Chapter 11. Big Data Analysis with Java

"In pioneer days they used oxen for heavy pulling, and when one ox couldn't budge a log, they didn't try to grow a larger ox. We shouldn't be trying for bigger computers, but for more systems of computers."

– Grace Hopper (1906-1992)

The term big data generally refers to algorithms for the storage, retrieval, and analysis of massive datasets that are too large to be managed by a single file server. Commercially, these algorithms were pioneered by Google. Two of their early benchmark algorithms, PageRank and MapReduce, are among those considered in this chapter.

Note

The word "googol" was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of the American mathematician Edward Kasner in the 1930s. The word was meant to stand for 10¹⁰⁰. At that time, it had been estimated that the number of particles in the universe was about 10⁸⁰. Kasner later coined the additional word "googolplex" to stand...