Computer Science 352 - Big Data

The recent explosion in the volume of data being collected and curated by computer systems is making possible a new understanding of human behavior and other natural phenomena.  This dramatic growth is also challenging traditional data storage and manipulation paradigms.  In particular, the growth in the collection and storage of so-called “unstructured” data has precipitated the development of new database technologies.  Unlike traditional relational data storage, these so-called NoSQL databases are optimized for the storage and analysis of hierarchical or otherwise non-tabular data in what are often distributed layouts.  The course will explore this dramatic paradigm shift by examining the inherent limitations of traditional relational databases and how the newer class of databases proposes to address these limitations.  Projects will center around experimental comparisons of relational database operations to operations implemented in the Map Reduce paradigm.  Offered in alternate years.

Requisites: COSC 112 and 201. Spring semester. Professor Valentine.