*/
public void append(Tuple tuple) throws IOException {
int size = schema.size();
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
Datum datum = tuple.get(i);
int length = columnBuffers[i].append(schema.getColumn(i), datum);
columnBufferSize += length;
if (isShuffle) {
// it is to calculate min/max values, and it is only used for the intermediate file.
stats.analyzeField(i, datum);