Monday, September 15, 2014

Python - Why is it a Real Contender in Big Data Arena?

Python Development
As an open source, high level programming language, Python does not need any introduction. The general purpose programming language is used widely by programmers to create a wide range of software applications. The clean object-oriented design and extensive support libraries of Python increases the productivity of software developers. At the same time, Python is also considered by businesses as the best option for creating mission critical and big data applications in a distributed environment. The significance of dynamic programming language in the big data arena can also be determined from the fact that the original version of Google’s web crawler was written in Python.

What Makes Python the Best Programming Language to Write Big Data Apps?

Supports Common Internet Protocols and Data Formats
Python allows developers to create web services easily by invoking COM or CORBA components. The programming language further allows programmers to call components directly to and from the code written in Java, C or C++. At the same time, Python also supports the common data formats and internet protocols. In addition to providing powerful process control capabilities, Python also processes XML and other markup languages. The programmers also have option to create internet application by embedding Python like a programming language. The feature makes Python effective in supporting and processing a wide variety of commonly used data formats.

Meets the Requirements of Complex Multi-Protocol Network Applications
The big data applications are required to simultaneously process a large number of communication links. Along with database and network communication, the application also needs to run a large number of concurrent inter-process communications. Often a single process needs to simultaneously process a large amount and wide variety of communications. The Python programmers can use a software development framework called Twisted to create complex multi-protocol network applications that need to simultaneously process a large amount and wide variety of communications.

Just-in-Time (JIT) Compilers
Many Python developers use JIT compilation to increase the programming language’s speed and performance. Like Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the JIT compilation detects only the specific bytecode that are under execution as hotspots. For instance, the Python programmer can use the alternative interpreter provided by PyPy to execute the Python code without any alteration. The framework can effectively execute the original Python code with average speedups of 6.3x. However, PyPy cannot be used effectively for creating numerical applications as it does not support Numpy arrays fully. So the developers have to additionally use numexpr as a JIT compiler to evaluate all complex numerical expressions at a rapid pace.

Libraries to Analyze and Manipulate Data
The Python libraries help big data applications in analyzing and manipulating a huge amount of data. The latest applications also require the data scientists and business analysts to use agile tools to effectuate the data analysis and manipulation. As a powerful language, Python can be used by these professionals to resolve complex problems in any domain. Further, they have option to integrate Python with their existing IT infrastructure. So the Python-based big data applications can effectively analyze and manipulate large amount of data in almost all domains.


However, many businesses are still skeptical about the significance of Python in the big data arena due to the poor performance of pure-Python applications. But the users still have option to overcome the disadvantage by linking Python with library extension written in other programming languages like C and FORTRAN. Also, the business can avail the benefits of certain open source projects to optimize the speed and performance of Python by compiling it into native code. The innovative projects further make Python the best programming language to write mission critical and big data applications. You can get in touch with a custom python development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Python development services. If you would like hire python developers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Advantages of Using MongoDB with Python

Python development
Despite being a relatively new player in the data storage arena, MongoDB has become hugely popular as a cloud era database. The NoSQL database is further designed with features to complement big data storage and faster query. A number of recent reports have highlighted how MongoDB has made the Python programmers’ life easier by allowing them to use document as a basic storage unit. The Python programmers can store all data as a document to accomplish enhanced performance and scalability. There are also a number of reasons that makes MongoDB the best database option for developing big data applications using Python.

Benefits of Using MongoDB with Python

Single Document Model: The key value based design of MongoDB makes it easier for it to scale out. Like other NoSQL databases, MongoDB also use document as a basic storage unit in a manner similar to a simple JSON object. The document model enables developers to save the data as a single document while treating them as a whole. So the database queries need to be written by targeting a single document that can be identified by its id. As the key value queries work much faster that the relational queries, MongoDB delivers enhanced performance by denormalizing the database structure.

Flexible Schema: Along with delivering enhanced performance, the document model further simplifies complex software development. The document does not support some of the common relational database concepts like SQL, tables, rows and schema. It also allows the application to create schema on the fly to add any number of fields to the existing document or MongoDB collection. MongoDB further rearranges and distributes the data evenly whenever the data on particular node exceed the threshold.

No Support for Join Operation and Transaction: MongoDB further does not support transaction or join operations to deliver scalability and performance. As the NoSQL database does not support transaction, the enhanced scalability allows enterprises to balance the load by using inexpensive hardware. However, MongoDB overcomes the lack of transaction support by supporting atomic increment and decrement operations. As all data is stored as a single document, the programmers are not required to use join operations to combine statements. The feature makes it easier for them to scale horizontally. The Python programmers can still use join operations to combine multiple queries.



Saves RAM: Unlike relational databases, MongoDB uses memory mapped files. These files allow the caching to be handled by the operating system. So the virtual memory provided by the operating system and hardware will determine the database size. The user also has option to use additional hardware to extend the size of its database. However, the use of memory mapped files makes MongoDB unsuitable for storing serious data on a 32bit machine. The user must increase the size of virtual memory to prevent the insertion of data from failing.

MongoDB Management Solutions: A user also has option to use customized MongoDB management solutions for public clouds. These solutions make it easier for businesses to deploy and manage enterprise applications without creating any expensive environment. Some of these solutions are even designed with features to run both Python server and MongoDB server on the same machine. The users can use these solutions to create and test Mongo and python code without investing in additional automation tools.

The Python developers can further use MongoDB 2.6 to avail several new features along with enhanced performance and reliability. The most recent version of MongoDB further comes with a completely rewritten query execution engine to deliver enhanced scalability. Further, the enhanced security, integration and analytics features of MongoDB 2.6 make it easier for developers to deploy enterprise Python applications in a simple and elegant way.You can get in touch with a custom python development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Python development services. If you would like hire python developers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.