data science online education
Posted in Big Data Data Science Data Science Education

STUDYING DATA SCIENCE ONLINE

This age is considered to be the Age of ‘Big Data’, much as the previous age was considered to be the Digital Age. Since the middle of the last century, the word Data has been used to mean computer information which is formatted in a special way that can be transmitted, stored and used for calculation. With the entry of the world of Big Data, the need for immense storage capabilities were felt and this situation continued until 2010. But now, ‘Hadoop’ and similar frameworks have solved the need for storage, and Big Data Processing is the next phase. The science derived from Big Data, called ‘Data Science’, is a new interdisciplinary field that uses Science to create methods, processes, systems and algorithms to extract insightful knowledge from large masses of both Structured and Raw Data. With the omnipresence of the Online, physically located schools for training are becoming time-consuming and therefore outdated. Online Schools for Data Science are now becoming accessible everywhere, and this gives our Generation X a wonderful opportunity to learn and practice a brand new profession, that is at the cutting-edge of information technology.

Why Is Data Science necessary?

Most of the Data that has been acquired, traditionally, has been comparatively small in size, and generally structured. Simple BI (Business Intelligence) tools were sufficient to process this Data. But as time goes on, the Data to be processed is mostly Unstructured Data, or at best Semi Structured. Data trends indicate that within the next few years, more than 75% to 85% of all Data will be Unstructured or Semi Structured. The bulk of this data will be generated from varied sources, with complex or no obvious interactions like — Financial Logs, Multimedia Forms, Text Files, Sensors, and direct inputs from instruments. This vast and varied mass of Data cannot be processed by the simple BI Tools that have been previously available. A vastly more advanced, complex and a complete science is required to tackle this Big Data. This is Data Science which can be used for predictive analytics. Weather Forecasting is a typical example. Data from multiple sources, such as, Satellites and Land Weather Stations, Ships and Aircrafts, Radars and Weather Balloons, can be collected and analyzed to build models that will not only forecast weather, but also help predicting the intensity, timing and route of major natural calamities. Customer’s preferences can be pinpointed from analysis of existing purchase history, age and income of the Customer. Companies also use valuable date to improve their products and services. For example adult apps like fuckbook and snapfuck among other local fuckbuddy apps can analyze data from their users to improve the functioning of their platforms. Data can be so pinpoint that they can specify to improve functioning for casual sex seekers using the mobile app in a specific location or age group of any other piece of data really.

Pre-requisites

The following background is necessary for Data Science Candidates – Statistics, Machine Learning, Programming with ‘R’ and ‘Python’, Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra, Data Wrangling, Visualizations and Communications and Intuition. The Candidate must have a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, IT or similar discipline, and preferably Master’s Degree in Data and some experience in the expected field of work.

Online Schools

Online Schools are now available in almost all disciplines, sometimes in even the most advanced or cutting-edge fields. It is not surprising therefore that Data Science has gone Online, in a big way. But the general public is only dazzled by the paycheck for Data Scientists. They are not aware of the tough pre-qualification requirements to study this highly advanced field of learning (which has been outlined above). Some of the best sponsored

Online Schools for Data Science follows:

  • University of California, Berkeley: Berkeley offers innovative program features like – Live Face-to-face Online Classes with Self-Paced Course work, MIDS Faculty-Administered Rigorous, Relevant Curriculum and finally a Degree from UC Berkeley, all without having to re-locate.
  • University of Denver: The program from the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science can be attended by students without prior programming experience, by using three bridging courses.
  • Southern Methodist University: Successful candidates will benefit from SMU’s vast connection to global business communities across a range of industries. It offers Project-based Approach, In-person Immersion, Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Live Online Classes.
  • Syracuse University: Data Science at Syracuse is an 18-month Online Graduate Program featuring opportunities to network with Peers and Faculty, Face-to-face Online Weekly Classes, Immersive Course work fostering close collaboration.

There are several others offering Online courses like Bay Path University, Bellevue University, Cabrini University, CTU, CUNY, Drexel University, Elmhurst College, IIT Illinois and so on, which are also worth considering.

database types
Posted in Data Science Databases

Basic Database Types

In your house you must have a place where you store items right? A garage, a store room, any kind of place? Well if you do then what do you keep in there? You could either keep valuable items, or some the worst junk you could possibly keep. But most of the time it is filled with the things that you will need and end up using most of the times.

If you consider a library, what is it stored with? Books, it’s stored with useful books. Now both these example are relating to the containment of something, the thing with this is that these containment options are visible to us. But what about the intangible one? Are there such things? Yes, yes there are, these are called databases, the library, your garage or your store room can also be considered as a database.

What you have to know is that there are different types of databases and how they all work and more. There are actually 4 main types of database explained, there can be more, but currently 4 is what is relevant than the others. There is much more to know about it, and all of these will be explained below.

What is a database?

Before learning about the various types it’s important it know what a database is first. Take the library example into account, a library is filled with books, as it stores books, it is a container for books, so you could say that the library is a database for books.

But the quite literal definition of it is that it is a computer structure that can save, organize, deliver and protect data. A system that contains a database is called a database management system, or a DBM. Most of the databases have multiple tables, and different fields and so on.

Each database will work differently based on what type of database it is. Most of the time it works through diagrams. On the down-low there are three key components that work with the management systems, the clients, the server and the database. Firstly there will be the external view which will be the clients, they will have a grasp of the conceptual logical layer which is the second layer in this diagram, the third layer being the physical diagram, which will work with the database. Simply this is how it will work, but there can be more clients and more paths that have to be added in and so on.

Types of databases

There are tons of data bases, but there are 4 main types of databases explained, these ones are the more popular ones. It can range from simple to difficult, overall you can use anything you prefer.

The first type is the text database, this is the simplest one yet so far, it is only about the text. The data can be organized into text files through rows, and columns. These text files can be used to store, protect, organize, and retrieve the data. One of the simplest things that can be done on this database it so save a list of names. Saving the first name followed by the last name will be filed in rows. Each row will represent a record, you can update these, change them, delete them and so on. Basically it is just text manipulation.

The second type is desktop database program, this is a more complex, however it can be used for single users. On this you can enter data, store it and protect it, and retrieve it as well. This is better than text based because it is you can change the data faster, and larger quantities of data can be stored. Some examples are Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and Access.

The third is Relational Database, these are actually the most common types of database systems. This database is great because it does a great job of managing the performance, as the features are way better than the other two databases. On this there can be multiple users to work with the data at the same time. It also has advanced security systems to access the data, so not everybody can just come up and work with it. On this database the data is stored in columns and rows, which turns into tables. And a set of these table are considered as a schema, and a number of these will create a database. So this means that many databases can be created on a single server.

Finally the last type is the NoSQL, and the Objected-oriented databases. These are completely different from the others, it does not follow in a row, column, and table format. Instead bookshelves are built, the data is stored in these bookshelves and it allows access per bookshelf. This basically means that it will direct you to a bookshelf depending on the data you want. It will narrow down the database in order to see what you want. This methods is a great way for you to store in chunks.

The benefits and drawbacks of databases

Database are good to use because there are many benefits that you can gain out of it, like for the fact that it reduces the data redundancy, as you have places to store them now. It also reduces the updating errors this is good because not only do you have less errors, but it also increases the efficiency and consistency of the business. For example, the popular hookup site Fuck Book utilizes a lot of various data to match partners and employs databases to keep the application functioning smoothly. Furthermore there is a greater improved security, so it will be difficult for people to take the data.

However these systems can be complicated to work with and will take too much time if you’re trying to figure it out when you are working. Not only that but there will be hardware and software costs that you have to deal with. Also the cost can increase based on the conversion of the files, and the training that needs to be provided of working with databases regularly.