What is idempotency?

Idempotency in the context of data engineering

In the context of data engineering, idempotency refers to the property of an operation or process that produces the same result, regardless of how many times it is performed. In other words, if a process is idempotent, performing the process multiple times will not change the state or outcome of the data.

Idempotency is an important concept in data engineering because it allows data engineers to ensure that their processes are repeatable and predictable. For example, if a data engineer is designing a process for loading data into a database, it is important that the process is idempotent so that the data can be loaded consistently, even if the process is run multiple times. This helps to prevent data inconsistencies and errors, and can make it easier to debug and troubleshoot problems with the data.