Databricks Certified Data Engineer - Associate

Explanation

Correct Answer: B

CREATE STREAMING LIVE TABLE (formerly CREATE INCREMENTAL LIVE TABLE) is specifically designed for incremental data processing scenarios in Delta Live Tables (DLT). Here's why:

Key Differences:

1. CREATE LIVE TABLE: Used for batch processing where the entire table is recomputed each time the pipeline runs.
2. CREATE STREAMING LIVE TABLE: Used for incremental processing where only new or changed data is processed, making it more efficient for streaming or change data capture (CDC) scenarios.

When to Use CREATE STREAMING LIVE TABLE:

• When you have streaming data sources (e.g., Kafka, Event Hubs)
• When you need to process only new/changed data rather than reprocessing everything
• When implementing change data capture (CDC) patterns
• When you want to reduce processing time and resource consumption by avoiding full table recomputation

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:

• A: Incorrect - The subsequent step being static doesn't determine whether to use streaming tables.
• C: Incorrect - Complicated aggregations can be done with both table types; this isn't the determining factor.
• D: Incorrect - The previous step being static doesn't determine whether to use streaming tables.

Best Practice:

Use CREATE STREAMING LIVE TABLE when you need to process data incrementally, especially for streaming workloads or when dealing with large datasets where full recomputation would be inefficient.