Using CQL

CQL provides an API to Apache Cassandra that is simpler than the Thrift API for new applications.

CQL provides an API to Cassandra that is simpler than the Thrift API for new applications. The Thrift API and legacy versions of CQL expose the internal storage structure of Cassandra. CQL adds an abstraction layer that hides implementation details of this structure and provides native syntaxes for collections and other common encodings.

Accessing CQL

Common ways to access CQL are:

• Start cqlsh, the Python-based command-line client, on the command line of a Cassandra node.
• Use DataStax DevCenter, a graphical user interface.
• For developing applications, you can use one of the official DataStax C#, Java, or Python open-source drivers.
• Use the set_cql_version Thrift method for programmatic access.

This document presents examples using cqlsh.