Big Data, Data Mining, and Machine Learning: Value Creation for Business Leaders and Practitioners

Preface

This book project was first presented to me during my first week in my current role of managing the data mining development at SAS. Writing a book has always been a bucket-list item, and I was very excited to be involved. I’ve come to realize why so many people want to write books, but why so few get the chance to see their thoughts and ideas bound and published.

I’ve had the opportunity during my studies and professional career to be front and center to some great developments in the area of data mining and to study under some brilliant minds. This experience helped position me with the skills and experience I needed to create this work.

Data mining is a field I love. Ever since childhood, I’ve wanted to explain how things work and understand how systems function both in the “average” case but also at the extremes. From elementary school through high school, I thought engineering would be the job that would couple both my curiosity and my desire to explain the world around me. However, before my last year as an undergraduate student, I found statistics and information systems, and I was hooked.

In Part One of the book, I explore the foundations of hardware and system architecture. This is a love that my parents were kind enough to indulge me in, in a day when computers cost much much more than $299. The first computer in my home was an Apple IIc, with two 5.25" floppy disk drives and no hard drive. A few years later I built an Intel 386 PC from a kit, and I vividly ...