Use empty_like in scatter

[revans2]

This prevents things like partition from working with deeply nested arrays.

I marked this as non-breaking, but I am happy to change it to breaking because I removed a detailed API that is not used anywhere else and is flawed.

[nvdbaranec]

Thumbs up. This function should not exist.

[codereport]

lgtm

[codecov]

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[vuule]

What's the error in make_empty_lists_column?

[revans2]

What's the error in make_empty_lists_column?

The error is that it is trying to make a deeply nested empty column, and make_empty_lists_column can only handle one level because it uses make_empty_column, and make_empty_column throws an exception when it sees a list column passed in as the type.

[nvdbaranec]

What's the error in make_empty_lists_column?

The error is that it is trying to make a deeply nested empty column, and make_empty_lists_column can only handle one level because it uses make_empty_column, and make_empty_column throws an exception when it sees a list column passed in as the type.

It's also that for nested types, the "type" is encoded in the hierarchy structure itself. So you can't properly preserve it without making a deep (even if potentially empty) copy of the whole thing.

[revans2]

@gpucibot merge

[isVoid]

Just leaving a reference here so that I can refer back to this PR easily.
#8255