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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Big Data Analysis with Scala and Spark by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

4.6
stars
2,584 ratings

About the Course

Manipulating big data distributed over a cluster using functional concepts is rampant in industry, and is arguably one of the first widespread industrial uses of functional ideas. This is evidenced by the popularity of MapReduce and Hadoop, and most recently Apache Spark, a fast, in-memory distributed collections framework written in Scala. In this course, we'll see how the data parallel paradigm can be extended to the distributed case, using Spark throughout. We'll cover Spark's programming model in detail, being careful to understand how and when it differs from familiar programming models, like shared-memory parallel collections or sequential Scala collections. Through hands-on examples in Spark and Scala, we'll learn when important issues related to distribution like latency and network communication should be considered and how they can be addressed effectively for improved performance. Learning Outcomes. By the end of this course you will be able to: - read data from persistent storage and load it into Apache Spark, - manipulate data with Spark and Scala, - express algorithms for data analysis in a functional style, - recognize how to avoid shuffles and recomputation in Spark, Recommended background: You should have at least one year programming experience. Proficiency with Java or C# is ideal, but experience with other languages such as C/C++, Python, Javascript or Ruby is also sufficient. You should have some familiarity using the command line. This course is intended to be taken after Parallel Programming: https://www.coursera.org/learn/parprog1....

Top reviews

BP

Nov 28, 2019

Excellent overview of Spark, including exercises that solidify what you learn during the lectures. The development environment setup tutorials were also very helpful, as I had not yet worked with sbt.

CC

Jun 7, 2017

The sessions where clearly explained and focused. Some of the exercises contained slightly confusing hints and information, but I'm sure those mistakes will be ironed out in future iterations. Thanks!

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76 - 100 of 509 Reviews for Big Data Analysis with Scala and Spark

By Yuriy P

Oct 27, 2017

Dear Heather,

your course on big data with scala is the very first online course I participate in.

I enjoy the way you explain the material and receive a real aesthetic pleasure.

By Ignacio G S

May 5, 2021

The contents are well explained and the material is of good quality. The exercises are of correct level of complexity, in order to learn what is viewed in the theory lectures.

By Luca D S

Dec 1, 2017

It surely opens your mind, even on unrelated topics, I found myself able to apply some of the distributed computing logics even to imperative sequential programming. Good job.

By Mani P

Apr 9, 2017

Excellent material. Very good flow. Heather has an amazing way of walking through the flow and simplifying the concepts. Great assignments -- takes a bit longer than 3 hours.

By Piotr A

Mar 16, 2017

Great course. Very informative. I have learned a lot. Lessons are very well prepared and structured. Implementation tasks are interesting. Thanks to all EPFL team. Great job!

By Paweł W

Apr 3, 2020

Well explained with many details, both: theory and practice really well prepared. I highly recommend to take this course if you're interested in Spark and big data analysis.

By Mykola S

Jun 30, 2017

Great course with nice explanations of some Spark concepts. The third week was particularly useful for my understanding of Spark shuffling and partitioning. Thanks a lot!

By Fernando C

Jun 6, 2018

Great course about Big Data analysis

It was my first exposure to Big Data frameworks and I learned a lot about the problems trying to be solved and the power of Spark.

By Seleznev A

May 9, 2020

I like this course because It isn't about analysis (as Yandex course here), it's about real work with Apache Spark for analysis. One of the best courses on Coursera!

By Mohamed A T

Aug 6, 2019

the theory is very clear and well explained.

the practical assignments are a little bit ambiguous but they are overall very good and challenging.

highly recommended!

By Andronik

Jun 15, 2017

Nice introduction into Spark with details about how Spark works internally. This course also talks about when to use RDD/Dataframe/Dataset and performance pitfalls.

By El G T

Oct 27, 2019

really good material, well explained with many examples.

maybe more information or precisions should be added to the assignments but good material and explanations

By Seongsan K

Mar 9, 2018

It was really useful material. It would be really nice if there are more assignments to polish the materials we learn, but I am really satisfied with the course.

By Walter D

Jan 1, 2018

Great course to get going with Apache Spark. Would recommend to someone who has java or scala experience already and wants to learn about distributed processing.

By Walter Z

Apr 2, 2017

Great introduction to Spark and it's data structures. The course is easy to follow, and lecturer is entertaining and really engaged.

Thanks, I really had fun !

By Zeb S

Oct 16, 2019

I worked with PySpark professionally, and this helped add some depth to my knowledge of Spark as well as give me a chance to translate those skills to Scala.

By Antonio A

Oct 20, 2017

Clear explanations, with emphasis done on the important/practical stuff. From zero to a general understanding on Spark and the available tools in 4 weeks.

By Shweta P

Jul 18, 2020

I really liked the course. Learnt lot many things regarding Scala and Spark. The Assignments were really helpful to get hands-on knowlegde of Spark.

By Jeffrey S

Apr 9, 2017

Lectures were clear and engaging and directly related to the homework. The assignments were very practical and very hard. Best course of the series!

By Grzegorz G

Mar 21, 2017

Some of the assignments are a bit challenging, due to grading system I suppose, but in the end general impression about this course is very positive

By Bulent B

Aug 7, 2019

Amazing technology, explained wonderfully. Note: familiarity with scala (take Martin's course in coursera) would make your experience even better.

By Konstantin K

Apr 12, 2017

good stuff, compared to the other similar course in PySpark this one gave me a lot more understanding of how things work in Spark on the low level

By Liqun Y

Jun 29, 2017

Very useful. Dr. Miller apparently did a very good job. I strongly suggest beginners to read the "Learning Spark" book and then take this class.

By Shane

May 10, 2018

Very well-organized courses about Spark ! Really learned some good practical tips. Hope there could be more explanations about the assignments.

By John V M

Apr 24, 2017

Yet another excellent Scala class. Good lectures, good assignments. Clear and understandable, while presenting a whole bunch of new concepts.