Terminology

The following definitions are used consistently across all functions and development activity. These definitions may override some of the standard Google definitions which can be inconsistent across different system functions, views and user interfaces.

Resource Types

Resource Type	Description	Docs
`TABLE`	The collective terminology for a resource of type `BASE TABLE`, `PARTITIONED TABLE`, `SHARDED TABLE`, `EXTERNAL TABLE`, `SNAPSHOT` or `VIEW`	Introduction to tables
`BASE TABLE`	A native BigQuery table, for which the data is physically stored within BigQuery	Standard BigQuery tables
`PARTITIONED TABLE`	A native BigQuery table where the data is stored in physically separate partitions (typically using a `DATE` column), enabling efficient and performant query execution	Partitioned tables
`DATE-PARTITIONED TABLE (DPT)`	A partitioned table which is partitioned by a specific date column.	Partitioned tables
`SHARDED TABLE`	A set of tables with a common schema and prefix, but with distinct suffixes (e.g. `[prefix]_YYYYMMDD` for date-based sharding)	Partitioning versus sharding
`DATE-SHARDED TABLE (DST)`	A sharded table which is sharded by date, with table names in the format `[prefix]_YYYYMMDD`	Partitioning versus sharding
`EXTERNAL TABLE`	A BigQuery table where the data is stored externally, either within the Google ecosystem (Google Sheets, files on Google Cloud Storage) or externally (Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage)	External tables
`SNAPSHOT`	An efficient mechanism for recording point-in-time table contents	Introduction to table snapshots
`VIEW`	An ephemeral table-like logical resource defined by a SQL query	Views
`ROUTINE`	The collective terminology for a resource of type `FUNCTION`, `PROCEDURE`, `TABLE FUNCTION` or `REMOTE FUNCTION`	Manage Routines
`FUNCTION`	User-defined code (SQL, native Javascript or packaged Javascript libraries) which wraps logic into a reusable and shareable function, taking zero or more type-specific arguments and returning a single value	User-defined functions
`PROCEDURE`	A set of statements which takes zero or more type-specific arguments and enables complex logic and actions to be packaged into a single, reusable and shareable resource	SQL stored procedures
`TABLE FUNCTION (TF)`	A parameterized `VIEW` which can support more complex, optimized query patterns	Table functions
`DATE-BOUNDED TABLE FUNCTION (DBTF)`	A table function with precisely two `DATE` parameters as arguments: `start_date` and `end_date`	Table functions
`REMOTE FUNCTION`	A Cloud Function written in one of a variety of languages which can be called like a BigQuery `FUNCTION`, enabling interaction with external APIs and libraries from BigQuery queries and workflows	Work with remote functions
`SCHEDULED QUERY`	An arbitrary SQL statement which can be scheduled to run periodically	Scheduling Queries

Naming Conventions

Term	Data Type	Description
`project_id`	`STRING`	The globally unique identifier for each project
`dataset_name`	`STRING`	The name for each dataset, unique in each project
`dataset_id`	`STRING`	The globally unique identifier for each dataset, composed as `project_id.dataset_name`
`resource_name`	`STRING`	The single name for each resource (`TABLE`, `VIEW`, `FUNCTION`, `TABLE FUNCTION` or `PROCEDURE`)
`resource_id`	`STRING`	The globally unique identifier for an individual `TABLE`, `VIEW`, `FUNCTION`, `TABLE FUNCTION` or `PROCEDURE`, composed as `project_id.dataset_name.resource_name`
`date_id`	`STRING`	A `STRING` representantion of a date in the format `YYYYMMDD`
`shard_id`	`STRING`	A `STRING` representantion of a table shard date in the format `YYYYMMDD`
`shard_date`	`DATE`	A `DATE` representantion of a table shard date
`partition_id`	`STRING`	A `STRING` representantion of a table partition date in the format `YYYYMMDD`
`partition_date`	`DATE`	A `DATE` representantion of a table partition date

Language Types

Language Type	Description	Docs
GoogleSQL	An ANSI compliant superset of Structured Query Language (SQL)	SQL in BigQuery
Procedural Language	The core language which enables programmatic execution of arbitrary logic	Procedural Language
Data Definition Language	Statements which enable creation and modification of BigQuery resources	DDL Statements
Data Manipulation Language	Statements which enable insertion, deletion and modification of data	DML Statements
Data Control Language	Statements which enable access control to BigQuery resources	DCL Statements