Apache Spark Quick Start Guide. Quickly learn the art of writing efficient big data applications with Apache Spark

Shrey Mehrotra, Akash Grade

Apache Spark is a ?exible framework that allows processing of batch and real-time data. Its unified engine has made it quite popular for big data use cases. This book will help you to get started with Apache Spark 2.0 and write big data applications for a variety of use cases.It will also introduce you to Apache Spark – one of the most popular Big Data processing frameworks. Although this book is intended to help you get started with Apache Spark, but it also focuses on explaining the core concepts. This practical guide provides a quick start to the Spark 2.0 architecture and its components. It teaches you how to set up Spark on your local machine. As we move ahead, you will be introduced to resilient distributed datasets (RDDs) and DataFrame APIs, and their corresponding transformations and actions. Then, we move on to the life cycle of a Spark application and learn about the techniques used to debug slow-running applications. You will also go through Spark’s built-in modules for SQL, streaming, machine learning, and graph analysis.Finally, the book will lay out the best practices and optimization techniques that are key for writing efficient Spark applications. By the end of this book, you will have a sound fundamental understanding of the Apache Spark framework and you will be able to write and optimize Spark applications.

Apache Superset Quick Start Guide. Develop interactive visualizations by creating user-friendly dashboards

Shashank Shekhar

Apache Superset is a modern, open source, enterprise-ready business intelligence (BI) web application. With the help of this book, you will see how Superset integrates with popular databases like Postgres, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, and MySQL. You will learn to create real time data visualizations and dashboards on modern web browsers for your organization using Superset.First, we look at the fundamentals of Superset, and then get it up and running. You'll go through the requisite installation, configuration, and deployment. Then, we will discuss different columnar data types, analytics, and the visualizations available. You'll also see the security tools available to the administrator to keep your data safe.You will learn how to visualize relationships as graphs instead of coordinates on plain orthogonal axes. This will help you when you upload your own entity relationship dataset and analyze the dataset in new, different ways. You will also see how to analyze geographical regions by working with location data.Finally, we cover a set of tutorials on dashboard designs frequently used by analysts, business intelligence professionals, and developers.

Applied Data Science with Python and Jupyter. Use powerful industry-standard tools to unlock new, actionable insights from your data

Alex Galea

Getting started with data science doesn't have to be an uphill battle. Applied Data Science with Python and Jupyter is a step-by-step guide ideal for beginners who know a little Python and are looking for a quick, fast-paced introduction to these concepts. In this book, you'll learn every aspect of the standard data workflow process, including collecting, cleaning, investigating, visualizing, and modeling data. You'll start with the basics of Jupyter, which will be the backbone of the book. After familiarizing ourselves with its standard features, you'll look at an example of it in practice with our first analysis. In the next lesson, you dive right into predictive analytics, where multiple classification algorithms are implemented. Finally, the book ends by looking at data collection techniques. You'll see how web data can be acquired with scraping techniques and via APIs, and then briefly explore interactive visualizations.

Applied Data Visualization with R and ggplot2. Create useful, elaborate, and visually appealing plots

Dr. Tania Moulik

Applied Data Visualization with R and ggplot2 introduces you to the world of data visualization by taking you through the basic features of ggplot2. To start with, you’ll learn how to set up the R environment, followed by getting insights into the grammar of graphics and geometric objects before you explore the plotting techniques.You’ll discover what layers, scales, coordinates, and themes are, and study how you can use them to transform your data into aesthetical graphs. Once you’ve grasped the basics, you’ll move on to studying simple plots such as histograms and advanced plots such as superimposing and density plots. You’ll also get to grips with plotting trends, correlations, and statistical summaries.By the end of this book, you’ll have created data visualizations that will impress your clients.

Applied Deep Learning and Computer Vision for Self-Driving Cars. Build autonomous vehicles using deep neural networks and behavior-cloning techniques

Sumit Ranjan, Dr. S. Senthamilarasu

Thanks to a number of recent breakthroughs, self-driving car technology is now an emerging subject in the field of artificial intelligence and has shifted data scientists' focus to building autonomous cars that will transform the automotive industry. This book is a comprehensive guide to use deep learning and computer vision techniques to develop autonomous cars. Starting with the basics of self-driving cars (SDCs), this book will take you through the deep neural network techniques required to get up and running with building your autonomous vehicle. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you'll delve into advanced computer vision techniques and learn how to use deep learning methods to perform a variety of computer vision tasks such as finding lane lines, improving image classification, and so on. You will explore the basic structure and working of a semantic segmentation model and get to grips with detecting cars using semantic segmentation. The book also covers advanced applications such as behavior-cloning and vehicle detection using OpenCV, transfer learning, and deep learning methodologies to train SDCs to mimic human driving.By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to implement a variety of neural networks to develop your own autonomous vehicle using modern Python libraries.

Applied Unsupervised Learning with R. Uncover hidden relationships and patterns with k-means clustering, hierarchical clustering, and PCA

Alok Malik, Bradford Tuckfield

Starting with the basics, Applied Unsupervised Learning with R explains clustering methods, distribution analysis, data encoders, and features of R that enable you to understand your data better and get answers to your most pressing business questions. This book begins with the most important and commonly used method for unsupervised learning - clustering - and explains the three main clustering algorithms - k-means, divisive, and agglomerative. Following this, you'll study market basket analysis, kernel density estimation, principal component analysis, and anomaly detection. You'll be introduced to these methods using code written in R, with further instructions on how to work with, edit, and improve R code. To help you gain a practical understanding, the book also features useful tips on applying these methods to real business problems, including market segmentation and fraud detection. By working through interesting activities, you'll explore data encoders and latent variable models. By the end of this book, you will have a better understanding of different anomaly detection methods, such as outlier detection, Mahalanobis distances, and contextual and collective anomaly detection.

arc42 by Example. Software architecture documentation in practice

Dr. Gernot Starke, Michael Simons, Stefan Zörner, Ralf D. Müller

When developers document the architecture of their systems, they often invent their own specific ways of articulating structures, designs, concepts, and decisions. What they need is a template that enables simple and efficient software architecture documentation. arc42 by Example shows how it's done through several real-world examples.Each example in the book, whether it is a chess engine, a huge CRM system, or a cool web system, starts with a brief description of the problem domain and the quality requirements. Then, you'll discover the system context with all the external interfaces. You'll dive into an overview of the solution strategy to implement the building blocks and runtime scenarios. The later chapters also explain various cross-cutting concerns and how they affect other aspects of a program.

Architecting Power BI Solutions in Microsoft Fabric. Design optimal solutions using Power BI to address common data problems

Nagaraj Venkatesan

Business Intelligence (BI) tools like Power BI are used by a wide range of professionals, creating diverse and complex scenarios, and finding the right solution can be daunting, especially when multiple approaches exist for a single use case. The author distills his 17 years of experience on various data platform technologies in this book to walk you through various Power BI usage scenarios.The book is structured around Power BI usage scenarios, such as developing solutions for corporate BI reporting, self-service BI reporting, and Power BI for data scientists and independent software vendors (ISVs). Each part highlights common data issues encountered in the usage scenario, the correct approach to solve the problems, and supporting technical guidance. The chapters also introduce you to some of the latest enhancements in Power BI, such as Microsoft Fabric integration with Power BI, AI features like Copilot, Power BI Git integration, and Power BI Governance features.By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to design optimal solutions using Power BI components and pick the right tool for the job, while adhering to security and performance best practices.