I appreciate you taking the time to share the background. I believe this line in your reply means that only nodes with the "(Superseded)" text following the node name will be deprecated in the future.
For example ... this tool in our D360 Analyze will not be impacted...
... but if we had any tools listed like this then they are would be impacted ...
Original Message:
Sent: 02-27-2025 12:28
From: Adrian Williams
Subject: Upgrade from 3.12 to 3.16 - Deprecated nodes
The link to the section of the Release notes for 3.14 is here.
https://help.precisely.com/r/t/1730810412080/2024-11-05/Data360-Analyze/pub/Latest/en-US/Data360-Analyze-Release-Notes/New-in-3.14.0
When Data360 Analyze (aka Dataverse back in the day) was released it included a range of new nodes that enabled the use of Python language scripting using Jython. These nodes included equivalents of frequently used nodes that were available in the legacy Lavastorm Analytic Engine (LAE) product such as the 'Filter', 'Agg Ex', Join etc
Many of the nodes in LAE offered the ability to use scripting to create custom analytic logic - using BRAINScript.
Other LAE nodes were configured using textual and/or selection (drop-down list) properties and the nodes did not provide BRAINScript support.
To distinguish the new Python-based nodes from the original LAE nodes where the same base name was used, the LAE node names were changed to incorporate a "(Superseded)" suffix.
Precisely recognised customers had made a significant investment in creating data flows (graphs) that utilized the original LAE nodes. As a consequence, Data360 Analyze was designed to allow legacy LAE graphs to be imported into Data360 Analyze and run (for the most part) without requiring modification. There were inevitably some differences and these are documented in the Help documentation.
A key design aim for Data360 Analyze was to reduce the reliance on using scripting and many of the new nodes that were introduced were 'script-free'.
Advanced functionality could then be implemented, when required, using Python scripting rather than the bespoke BRAINScript language.
Over subsequent releases, the majority of the legacy LAE nodes have been replaced with new, more performant, nodes that internally are Java-based.
Where a legacy LAE node presented an interface that did not support BRAINScript it has been possible most of the time to produce a 'drop-in' replacement for the legacy node. Similarly in some cases, legacy LAE nodes were built using Composite nodes and the legacy nodes within these Composite nodes have been replaced by new java-based nodes without affecting the external interface of the node.
The 'direction of travel' for the node development has been to remove the reliance on BRAINScript though-out the product. This is still ongoing.
Some legacy LAE nodes (e.g. Agg Ex, Cat, Join, Sort, etc) were built using C++ and, consequently, there was a reliance on platform-specific C++ runtime libraries. An aim for the Data360 Analyze product is to move towards delivering a platform-independent product. This has resulted in the creation of replacement nodes for these nodes.
In the Data360 Analyze 3.14.0 release many of the *(Superseded) nodes were marked as (Deprecated) to indicate our intention to remove these nodes in a future version. The date for this has not yet been determined.
When the Deprecated nodes are removed, data flows using these nodes would no longer work.
As of now, we recommend that any new data flows that are created do not utilize Deprecated nodes. We also recommend considering updating existing data flows to use only the 'new' nodes when you are making changes to these data flows.
Taking action at this stage will reduce the amount of work that needs to be completed at a later date when the Deprecated nodes are removed from the future release.
Switching to the 'new' nodes can provide performance improvements compared with the legacy nodes and many of the nodes can run 'in-container' which also reduces the start-up time required for the initialization of the nodes.
The Help documentation provides examples of Python function equivalents for legacy BRAINScript operators.
The Data360 Analyze 3.16.0 LTS did not remove the Deprecated node that were listed in the Data360 Analyze 3.14.0 Release notes, so the nodes continue to operate.
The Data360 Analyze 3.16.0 LTS release was was made Generally Available on November 28, 2024. The 3.16 LTS release series are supported in accordance with the published Data360 Analyze Product Support Lifecycle document.
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Adrian Williams
Precisely Software Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 02-27-2025 08:08
From: James Holloway
Subject: Upgrade from 3.12 to 3.16 - Deprecated nodes
Adrian,
I'm looking at the 3.14 release notes, and noticing several common nodes listed as being deprecated -
• Filter (Superseded)
• Remove Duplicates (Superseded)
• Sort (Superseded)
• Split (Superseded)
• Transform (Superseded)
• Join (Superseded)
• Lookup (Superseded)
Our flows make heavy use of these. I expect other users do as well. Will these actually be removed at some point in the future? Perhaps I'm not understanding what deprecation means. Can you clarify?
Regards, Jim
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James Holloway
Data Management Analyst
Experian Services Corp.
Lincoln NE
Original Message:
Sent: 02-27-2025 05:10
From: Adrian Williams
Subject: Upgrade from 3.12 to 3.16 - Deprecated nodes
The deprecated nodes have not been removed as of the 3.16 LTS release series. The deprecated node will continue to operate. The deprecation flag is an indication that the node will be removed at some point in the future. We recommend the newer versions of the nodes should be used for all new projects.
Some nodes shipped with Data360 Analyze are built using Composite nodes. It could be the case that the shipped (Composite) node internally includes deprecated nodes. Where a shipped node includes a deprecated node, and a decision is made to remove the deprecated node, then Precisely would where possible ensure the overall external interface of the shipped node (i.e. the top level of the node's properties node, inputs and outputs) would be maintained. Note additional inputs, outputs and properties may be added in future releases. Typically these changes are to introduce additional functionality (e.g. adding HTTP proxy support for nodes that communicate with external services using REST APIs) and the defaults for these enhancements would maintain the functionality of the existing nodes.
However, we advise against modifying the internals of shipped (Composite) nodes as it is not possible to guarantee that your modified nodes would continue to operate the same in a future release.
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Adrian Williams
Precisely Software Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2025 10:49
From: Geoff Goldsmith
Subject: Upgrade from 3.12 to 3.16 - Deprecated nodes
We are updating to 3.16 from 3.12 and I see that in 3.14 there are a ton of deprecated nodes... do we need to replace all those nodes in our flows because they will not work in 3.16? (what I heard..)
Is this true? or will they work like previously deprecated nodes... you just have to use the new nodes for new flows??
Please clarify, thank you!
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Geoff Goldsmith
Windstream Communications
Little Rock AR
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