Datafunktion

Datafunktion is a term used in data processing and software development to denote a function that operates on data to produce values or transform data. It can be mathematical, rule-based, or based on statistical operations. In practice it is used to describe both pure functions in programming and data-driven endpoints in data pipelines.

The word combines data with function and is widely used in multilingual IT contexts, including Germanic and Scandinavian language environments, as a generic label for any function that handles data.

In programming, a datafunktion can be a pure function that maps inputs to outputs without side effects, or a more complex data transformation step within ETL pipelines, data processing frameworks, or database queries. Datafunktionen are commonly seen in map, filter, reduce, or window operations, and user-defined functions (UDFs) in SQL are typical examples.

In analytics, datafunktion refers to operations such as normalization, aggregation, feature extraction, or data shaping. They are central to data pipelines and data modeling; the term itself is not a standardized technical term in reference works, but is used informally to describe data-centric computational steps within software systems.

See also data transformation, functional programming, ETL, UDF, data pipeline.