Which of the following identifies multiple narrow operations that are executed in sequence?

Question

Options

• ASlot
• BJob
• CStage
• DTask
• EExecutor

• C
  88% (22)
• D
  4% (1)
• E
  8% (2)

Explanation

Stage correctly identifies multiple narrow operations grouped together and executed in sequence. In Apache Spark, a stage is a boundary-defined collection of narrow transformations (like map, filter, flatMap) that can be pipelined on each partition without triggering a shuffle across the cluster - stages run sequentially relative to one another, separated by wide (shuffle) operations.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A. Slot - a slot is a unit of resource allocation (CPU/memory) in a cluster, not a grouping of operations.
• B. Job - a job is the highest-level unit triggered by an action (e.g., collect()); it contains multiple stages, not the other way around.
• D. Task - a task is the smallest unit of work, running one operation on one partition; it lives inside a stage.
• E. Executor - an executor is the JVM process that runs tasks; it's a compute resource, not an operational grouping.

Memory tip: Think of a stage like a theater stage - actors (tasks) perform a sequence of choreographed moves (narrow operations) without leaving the stage, until a scene change (shuffle) triggers the next stage.

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