Data Science For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Introduction

The power of big data and data science are revolutionizing the world. From the modern business enterprise to the lifestyle choices of today’s digital citizen, data science insights are driving changes and improvements in every arena. Although data science may be a new topic to many, it’s a skill that any individual who wants to stay relevant in her career field and industry needs to know.

This book is a reference manual to guide you through the vast and expansive areas encompassed by big data and data science. If you’re looking to learn a little about a lot of what’s happening across the entire space, this book is for you. If you’re an organizational manager who seeks to understand how data science and big data implementations could improve your business, this book is for you. If you’re a technical analyst, or even a developer, who wants a reference book for a quick catch-up on how machine learning and programming methods work in the data science space, this book is for you.

But, if you are looking for hands-on training in deep and very specific areas that are involved in actually implementing data science and big data initiatives, this is not the book for you. Look elsewhere because this book focuses on providing a brief and broad primer on all the areas encompassed by data science and big data. To keep the book at the For Dummies level, I do not go too deeply or specifically into any one area. Plenty of online courses are available to support people who want to ...