Our coverage in the first half of 2013 reflects one of the most important trends in computing: the emergence of so-called "big data." In fact, data has always been big relative to our capacity to understand it, but today new tools make it possible for desktop machines and small clusters to do deep data mining and analytics very inexpensively. It's certainly possible that in a few years, all business programmers will be expected to have working knowledge of big data analysis using NoSQL databases and tools such as Hadoop. To this end, we presented one of the first ever multi-part tutorials on Hadoop, written by the folks who developed it. We also were the first publication to have a multi-part series on programming the Intel Phi, which surely represents the kind of silicon that will routinely be used in big data processing.
Apart from big data, we also explored our traditional fascination with programming languages, books, and, of course, the Jolt Awards.
Big Data
NoSQL Options Compared
Introduction to Hadoop: Parts 1, 2, 3
Pydoop: Getting Started
Easy, Real-Time Big Data Analysis Using Storm
Getting Started with MongoDB
MongoDB with C#: Deep Dive
Learning to use the Intel Phi Coprocessor: Parts 1, 2, 3
Languages
Scala for C# Developers, parts 1, 2, 3
Building GUI Applications in Powershell
Why I Use Perl...And Will Continue To Do So
The Clojure Philosophy
Ada 2012: Ada With Contracts
NetRexx: The Original JVM Language Returns
Books
C++ Reading List
JavaScript Reading List
Editorials
Why Code in C Anymore?
Pulling Back from Windows 8
The Death of Beta Testing?
The Rise And Fall of Languages in 2012
The Quiet Revolution in Programming
Jolt Awards
Coding Tools
Programmer Libraries
Testing Tools
Blogs
It's A Heisenbug!
Moving is Not Copying
CPU Design on Paper
Implementing Half Floats in D
Is there anything we missed that you'd really like to see covered? Drop me a line (my address is below) and let me know. We're gearing up to deliver more good content for the second half of the year, so this would be an ideal time to send me your requests and preferences. Thank you!
— Andrew Binstock
Editor in Chief
alb@drdobbs.com
Twitter: platypusguy
