COMP30770 Programming for Big Data

Academic Year 2024/2025

`Big Data' refers to datasets that are too big, or change too quickly, for traditional data management and data processing approaches. Big Data has forced the field of data management to rethink some of it design concepts and architectural patterns. This module will walk the students through the complex set of concepts and projects that form the Big Data stack. Students will learn how to set up Big Data environments, how to use efficient data management operations and how to run algorithms - to the scale and speed required by Big Data datasets. Students will also be able at the end of this module to design and implement their own solutions to address Big Data problems.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module the learner will be able to:
- Review the data processing using Shell and traditional data management systems using SQL;
- Understand the problem of managing data at scale and why traditional data management systems are failing
- Understand the various data management paradigms used in the context of Big Data (e.g., relational, NoSQL)
- Understand the role of distributed file systems (e.g., using HDFS) that support big data programming
- Understand Big Data programming models such as Map/Reduce and Spark, and how to use them on real examples
- Understand other Spark extensions for various big data applications such as MLlib, GraphX, Spark Streaming, etc.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

12

Practical

24

Autonomous Student Learning

64

Total

100

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
peer and group work; lectures; lab/studio work; 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Pre-requisite:
COMP20250 - Introduction to Java, COMP20350 - Object-Oriented Programming


 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Group Work Assignment: A comparative study on solving a data-intensive task with and without big data programming. n/a Graded No

30

Exam (In-person): 2-hour closed-book paper-based exam n/a Graded No

70


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer Yes - 2 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

solutions to lab practices will be provided;