What Is Data Science?

Mike Loukides

Apr 2011 · "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

About this ebook

We've all heard it: according to Hal Varian, statistics is the next sexy job. Five years ago, in What is Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly said that "data is the next Intel Inside." But what does that statement mean? Why do we suddenly care about statistics and about data? This report examines the many sides of data science -- the technologies, the companies and the unique skill sets.The web is full of "data-driven apps." Almost any e-commerce application is a data-driven application. There's a database behind a web front end, and middleware that talks to a number of other databases and data services (credit card processing companies, banks, and so on). But merely using data isn't really what we mean by "data science." A data application acquires its value from the data itself, and creates more data as a result. It's not just an application with data; it's a data product. Data science enables the creation of data products.

Ratings and reviews

Every other book you see as free here, to download google asks you for your debit or card card and finally they charge you Rs. 50 for what they said is free. Dont get cheated.

One can read this and be left with very little idea of Data Science. It is a readable article, but it shouldn't pretend to be a book. I'd suggest 'Bad Data' from O'Reilly as being a far better introduction to Data Science, and it is just as engaging to read.

This book is only talking about overview of datascience and the environment + historical story. If this is your first time to hear "data science", just read this book

About the author

Mike Loukides is an editor for O'Reilly & Associates. He is the author of System Performance Tuning and UNIX for FORTRAN Programmers. Mike's interests are system administration, networking, programming languages, and computer architecture. His academic background includes degrees in electrical engineering (B.S.) and English literature (Ph.D.).