Understanding Apache Spark: A Comprehensive Guide
Apache Spark is a powerful open-source unified analytics engine designed for large-scale data processing. It provides high-level APIs in Java, Scala, Python, and R.
- This tutorial is based on Apache Spark with Scala
Key Features of Apache Spark
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Speed: Spark’s in-memory computation capabilities allow it to process data up to 100 times faster than Hadoop MapReduce.
- Ease of use:With high-level APIs available in Java, Scala, Python, and R, Spark simplifies the process of writing complex big data applications.
- Advanced Analytics: Spark supports advanced analytics, including SQL queries, machine learning (MLlib), graph processing (GraphX), and real-time stream processing (Spark Streaming).
Apache Spark Components
Apache Spark comprises Spark Core for distributed task scheduling and execution, along with specialized libraries like Spark SQL for structured data processing, MLlib for machine learning, GraphX for graph processing, and Spark Streaming for real-time data processing.