The 1.2.0 release of TileDB includes many new features, improvements in stability and performance, and two new language interfaces (Python and C++). There are also several breaking changes in the C API and on-disk format, documented below.
**Important Note**: due to several improvements and changes in the underlying array storage mechanism, you will need to recreate any existing arrays in order to use them with TileDB v1.2.0.
New features
* Windows support. TileDB is now fully supported on Windows systems (64-bit Windows 7 and newer).
* Python API. We are very excited to announce the initial release of a Python API for TileDB. The Python API makes TileDB accessible to a much broader audience, allowing seamless integration with existing Python libraries such as NumPy, Pandas and the scientific Python ecosystem.
* C++ API. We've included a C++ API, which allows TileDB to integrate into modern C++ applications without having to write code towards the C API. The C++ API is more concise and provides additional compile time type safety.
* S3 object store support. You can now easily store, query, and manipulate your TileDB arrays on S3 API compatibile object stores, including Amazon's AWS S3 service.
* Virtual filesystem interface. The TileDB API now exposes a virtual filesystem (or VFS) interface, allowing you to perform tasks such as file creation, deletion, reads, and appends without worrying about whether your files are stored on S3, HDFS, a POSIX or Windows filesystem, etc.
* Key-value store. TileDB now provides a key-value (meta) data storage abstraction. Its implementation is built upon TileDB's sparse arrays and inherits all the properties of TileDB sparse arrays.
Improvements
* Homebrew formula added for easier installation on macOS. Homebrew is now the perferred method for installing TileDB and its dependencies on macOS.
* Docker images updated to include stable/unstable/dev options, and easy configuration of additional components (e.g. S3 support).
* Tile cache implemented, which will greatly speed up repeated queries on overlapping regions of the same array.
* Ability to pass runtime configuration arguments to TileDB/VFS backends.
* Unnamed (or "anonymous") dimensions are now supported; having a single anonymous attribute is also supported.
* Concurrency bugfixes for several compressors.
* Correctness issue fixed in double-delta compressor for some datatypes.
* Better build behavior on systems with older GCC or CMake versions.
* Several memory leaks and overruns fixed with help of sanitizers.
* Many improved error condition checks and messages for easier debugging.
* Many other small bugs and API inconsistencies fixed.
C API additions
* `tiledb_config_*`: Types and functions related to the new configuration object and functionality.
* `tiledb_config_iter_*`: Iteration functionality for retieving parameters/values from the new configuration object.
* `tiledb_ctx_get_config()`: Function to get a configuration from a context.
* `tiledb_filesystem_t`: Filesystem type enum.
* `tiledb_ctx_is_supported_fs()`: Function to check for support for a given filesystem backend.
* `tiledb_error_t`, `tiledb_error_message()` and `tiledb_error_free()`: Type and functions for TileDB error messages.
* `tiledb_ctx_get_last_error()`: Function to get last error from context.
* `tiledb_domain_get_rank()`: Function to retrieve number of dimensions in a domain.
* `tiledb_domain_get_dimension_from_index()` and `tiledb_domain_get_dimension_from_name()`: Replaces dimension iterators.
* `tiledb_dimension_{create,free,get_name,get_type,get_domain,get_tile_extent}()`: Functions related to creation and manipulation of `tiledb_dimension_t` objects.
* `tiledb_array_schema_set_coords_compressor()`: Function to set the coordinates compressor.
* `tiledb_array_schema_set_offsets_compressor()`: Function to set the offsets compressor.
* `tiledb_array_schema_get_attribute_{num,from_index,from_name}()`: Replaces attribute iterators.
* `tiledb_query_create()`: Replaced many arguments with new `tiledb_query_set_*()` setter functions.
* `tiledb_array_get_non_empty_domain()`: Function to retrieve the non-empty domain from an array.
* `tiledb_array_compute_max_read_buffer_sizes()`: Function to compute an upper bound on the buffer sizes required for a read query.
* `tiledb_object_ls()`: Function to visit the children of a path.
* `tiledb_uri_to_path()`: Function to convert a file:// URI to a platform-native path.
* `TILEDB_MAX_PATH` and `tiledb_max_path()`: The maximum length for tiledb resource paths.
* `tiledb_kv_*`: Types and functions related to the new key-value store functionality.
* `tiledb_vfs_*`: Types and functions related to the new virtual filesystem (VFS) functionality.
Breaking changes
C API
* Rename `tiledb_array_metadata_t` -> `tiledb_array_schema_t`, and associated `tiledb_array_metadata_*` functions to `tiledb_array_schema_*`.
* Remove `tiledb_attribute_iter_t`.
* Remove `tiledb_dimension_iter_t`.
* Rename `tiledb_delete()`, `tiledb_move()`, `tiledb_walk()` to `tiledb_object_{delete,move,walk}()`.
* `tiledb_ctx_create`: Config argument added.
* `tiledb_domain_create`: Datatype argument removed.
* `tiledb_domain_add_dimension`: Name, domain and tile extent arguments replaced with single `tiledb_dimension_t` argument.
* `tiledb_query_create()`: Replaced many arguments with new `tiledb_query_set_*()` setter functions.
* `tiledb_array_create()`: Added array URI argument.
* `tiledb_*_free()`: All free functions now take a pointer to the object pointer instead of simply object pointer.
* The include files are now installed into a `tiledb` folder. The correct path is now `include <tiledb/tiledb.h>` (or `include <tiledb/tiledb>` for the C++ API).
Resource Management
* Support for moving resources across previous VFS backends (local fs <-> HDFS) has been removed. A more generic implementation for this functionality with improved performance is planned for the next version of TileDB.