Apache Spark Query Optimization on Databricks: Catalyst, AQE, and Photon Engine

Why Query Optimization Matters A Spark query written by a human and a Spark query executed by the engine are often very different things. The gap between them — the optimization — is what separates a job that runs in 3 minutes from one that runs in 3 hours on identical hardware. Databricks compounds Spark’s native Catalyst optimizer with two additional layers: