AQE (Spark 3.x): Reoptimizes at runtime. Coalesces partitions after shuffle; converts sort-merge to broadcast when small side discovered; handles skew. Set spark.sql.adaptive.enabled=true. **Why**: Plan-time stats can be wrong; runtime reveals actual sizes. **Scalability**: Reduces shuffle partitions; avoids broadcast of large tables. **Cost**: Less shuffle I/O; better resource use....
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