Mastering Large Datasets with Python

Chapter 1. Introduction

This chapter covers

• Introducing the map and reduce style of programming
• Understanding the benefits of parallel programming
• Extending parallel programming to a distributed environment
• Parallel programming in the cloud

This book teaches a set of programming techniques, tools, and frameworks for mastering large datasets. Throughout this book, I’ll refer to the style of programming you’re learning as a map and reduce style. The map and reduce style of programming is one in which we can easily write parallel programs—programs that can do multiple things at the same time—by organizing our code around two functions: map and reduce. To get a better sense of why we’ll want to use a map and reduce style, consider this scenario: ...