A Thrift to CQL3 Upgrade Guide

The guide describes version 3 of the CQL language (CQL3), which provides a new API to work with Apache Cassandra. Unlike the legacy thrift API, CQL3 offers a thin abstraction layer over Cassandra's internal storage structure, making it simpler and more intuitive for users. This guide explains how to translate thrift to CQL3 and covers the basics of CQL3 implementation. It also discusses when one should use CQL3 and provides examples of translating static, dynamic, and composite column families from thrift to CQL3. Additionally, it touches on the differences between compact and non-compact storage in CQL3 tables and mentions that super columns will be fully available through CQL3 in a future update.