# Should julia libs adhere to a common Array & dataframe API?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/should-julia-libs-adhere-to-a-common-array-dataframe-api/76491>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** dataframes, arrays\
**Created:** [February 15, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/should-julia-libs-adhere-to-a-common-array-dataframe-api/76491 "2022-02-15T15:51:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Steven\_Sagaert](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/steven_sagaert/32/29578_2.png) [@Steven\_Sagaert](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Steven_Sagaert)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/should-julia-libs-adhere-to-a-common-array-dataframe-api/76491/1 "2022-02-15T15:51:21Z")

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Hi,  
I recently discovered this: [Announcing the Consortium for Python Data API Standards](https://data-apis.org/blog/announcing_the_consortium/). This is of course for Python but I wonder if a similar effort in julia would be opportune.

I realise that in julia due to multiple dispatch a lot of libs are already adhering to a common API, especially for arrays but for dataframes the issue might be less settled. Maybe inspiration for a good common dataframe api could be gotten by looking at what these guys come up with?

For one thing it might help with interop with external libs/systems like Spark, array databases, etc. in other languages that may adhere to this standard in the future.

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**Author:** ![gbaraldi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/gbaraldi/32/22101_2.png) [@gbaraldi](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/gbaraldi)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/should-julia-libs-adhere-to-a-common-array-dataframe-api/76491/2 "2022-02-15T15:53:45Z")

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There already exists something similar to what you mentioned, called [Tables.jl](https://tables.juliadata.org/stable/). There is also an effort for arrays called [ArrayInterface.jl](https://github.com/JuliaArrays/ArrayInterface.jl).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steven\_Sagaert](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/steven_sagaert/32/29578_2.png) [@Steven\_Sagaert](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Steven_Sagaert)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/should-julia-libs-adhere-to-a-common-array-dataframe-api/76491/3 "2022-02-15T16:01:59Z")

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Good stuff