In this chapter we get started with Apache Drill by querying simple data. We are defining “simple data” as data contained in a delimited file such as a spreadsheet or comma-separated values (CSV) file, from a single source. If you have worked with SQL databases, you will find that querying simple data with Drill is not much different than querying data from a relational database. However, there are some differences that are important to understand in order to unleash the full power of Drill. We assume that you are familiar with basic SQL syntax, but if you are not, we recommend SQL Queries for Mere Mortals (Addison-Wesley) by John Viescas as a good SQL primer.
To follow along, start Drill in embedded mode as explained in Chapter 2 and download the example files, which are available in the GitHub repository for this book.
Ways of Querying Data with Drill
Drill is very flexible and provides you with several different ways of querying data. You’ve already seen that Drill has a command-line interface known as SQLLine. In addition to the command line, Drill has a web interface that you can access by opening a browser (after Drill is running) and navigating to http://localhost:8047, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1. The Drill Web Console
Other Interfaces
You can also query data with Drill by using Drill’s RESTful interface or by using a conventional ...
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