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While we most typically use other operator families for creating instances, there are circumstances where using DATs for instancing is useful. Even though DATs are the least efficient approach to instancing, they are often used in complex workflows.
When working with DATs, we may use either rows or columns to represent data that’s related. This means that each row might correspond to a different attribute, or each column may correspond to a different attribute. The default configuration in TouchDesigner is that each column represents a new attribute of data.
You might use DATs for holding instance data if you need to update, change, or add new instances on demand. This often looks like data that may be difficult to manipulate in TOPs or CHOPs, but is easy to control in a table format.