The primary benefit of Databricks SQL adopting the ANSI SQL standard is to ensure high compatibility with other SQL-based systems. This standardization significantly simplifies the migration process for organizations moving from traditional data warehouses or other platforms. Analysts and developers can reuse their existing SQL queries, scripts, and business intelligence tool configurations with minimal to no modification. This reduces the effort, cost, and time required for adoption, as it leverages the widespread familiarity and portability of the ANSI SQL syntax.

A: Adhering to a standard like ANSI SQL prioritizes compatibility and predictability over vendor-specific customizations.

C: Photon is Databricks' vectorized execution engine. Its performance benefits are a feature of the platform's architecture, not a direct result of using the ANSI SQL dialect.

D: A SQL dialect is a syntax and semantic standard; it is not inherently more or less performant than another. Performance is determined by the underlying query engine.

E: While Databricks SQL is built on Spark SQL, the key benefit of ANSI compliance is for easier migration from external systems, not just for internal compatibility.

1. Databricks Documentation

"What is Databricks SQL?": "Databricks SQL supports the ANSI SQL standard

so you can use the syntax you're already familiar with to work with your data." This highlights the ease of use for those with existing SQL knowledge

which is foundational to easy migration.

2. Databricks Documentation

"ANSI compliance in Databricks Runtime": "Spark SQL has two options for SQL dialect compliance: spark.sql.ansi.enabled=false (default) and spark.sql.ansi.enabled=true... For easier migration from traditional data warehouses

we recommend setting spark.sql.ansi.enabled to true." This directly links ANSI compliance with the benefit of easier migration.

3. Databricks Documentation

"Migrate and interoperate with Databricks SQL": "Because Databricks SQL supports ANSI standard SQL

you can migrate many of your existing queries from other data warehousing systems." This statement explicitly confirms that ANSI SQL support is a key enabler for migration.