Use wrapper instead of alias for drop()

Author: Dane Pitkin

python/pyarrow/table.pxi

@@ -4725,10 +4725,9 @@ cdef class Table(_PandasConvertible):
 
         return table
 
-    drop = drop_columns
-    """
-    Alias of Table.drop_columns, kept for backwards compatibility.
-    """
+    def drop(self, columns):
+        """Alias of Table.drop_columns, but kept for backwards compatibility."""
+        return self.drop_columns(columns)
 
     def group_by(self, keys):
         """Declare a grouping over the columns of the table.

python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py

@@ -1070,6 +1070,26 @@ def test_table_drop_columns():
         table.drop_columns(['d'])
 
 
+def test_table_drop():
+    """ verify the alias of drop_columns is working"""
+    a = pa.array(range(5))
+    b = pa.array([-10, -5, 0, 5, 10])
+    c = pa.array(range(5, 10))
+
+    table = pa.Table.from_arrays([a, b, c], names=('a', 'b', 'c'))
+    t2 = table.drop(['a', 'b'])
+    t3 = table.drop('a')
+
+    exp_t2 = pa.Table.from_arrays([c], names=('c',))
+    assert exp_t2.equals(t2)
+    exp_t3 = pa.Table.from_arrays([b, c], names=('b', 'c',))
+    assert exp_t3.equals(t3)
+
+    # -- raise KeyError if column not in Table
+    with pytest.raises(KeyError, match="Column 'd' not found"):
+        table.drop(['d'])
+
+
 def test_table_remove_column():
     data = [
         pa.array(range(5)),