Chapter 1
Jumping into the Data Lake
IN THIS CHAPTER
Defining and scoping the data lake
Diving underwater in the data lake
Dividing up the data lake
Making sense of conflicting terminology
The lake is the place to be this season — the data lake, that is!
Just like the newest and hottest vacation destination, everyone is booking reservations for a trip to the data lake. Unlike a vacation, though, you won’t just be spending a long weekend or a week or even the entire summer at the data lake. If you and your work colleagues do a good job, your data lake will be your go-to place for a whole decade or even longer.
What Is a Data Lake?
Ask a friend this question: “What’s a lake?” Your friend thinks for a moment, and then gives you this answer: “Well, it’s a big hole in the ground that’s filled with water.”
Technically, your friend is correct, but that answer also is far from detailed enough to really tell you what a lake actually is. You need more specifics, such as:
- How big, dimension-wise (how long and how wide)
- How deep that “big hole in the ground” goes
- How much variability there ...
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