This notebook introduces basic Spark concepts and helps you to start using Spark for Python.
Some familiarity with Python is recommended. This notebook runs on Python 3 with Spark.
In this notebook, you'll use the publicly available mtcars data set from Motor Trend magazine to learn some basic Python. You'll learn how to load data, create a Spark DataFrame, aggregate data, run mathematical formulas, and run SQL queries against the data.
This notebook contains these main sections:
A DataFrame is a distributed collection of data that is organized into named columns. The Python pandas DataFrame that you will create will load an external DataFrame called mtcars, which includes observations on the following 11 variables:
[, 1] mpg Miles / (US) gallon
[, 2] cyl Number of cylinders
[, 3] disp Displacement (cu. in.)
[, 4] hp Gross horsepower
[, 5] drat Rear axle ratio
[, 6] wt Weight (1000 lbs)
[, 7] qsec 1/4 mile time (seconds)
[, 8] vs 0 = V-engine, 1 = straight engine
[, 9] am Transmission (0 = automatic, 1 = manual)
[,10] gear Number of forward gears
[,11] carb Number of carburetors
import pandas as pd
mtcars = pd.read_csv('https://github.com/IBMDataScience/sample-notebooks/raw/master/Files/mtcars.csv')
Preview the first 3 rows of the DataFrame by using the head()
method:
mtcars.head(3)
model | mpg | cyl | disp | hp | drat | wt | qsec | vs | am | gear | carb | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Mazda RX4 | 21.0 | 6 | 160.0 | 110 | 3.90 | 2.620 | 16.46 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
1 | Mazda RX4 Wag | 21.0 | 6 | 160.0 | 110 | 3.90 | 2.875 | 17.02 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
2 | Datsun 710 | 22.8 | 4 | 108.0 | 93 | 3.85 | 2.320 | 18.61 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Using the SQLContext class object and the loaded local DataFrame, create a Spark DataFrame and print the schema, or structure, of the DataFrame:
sdf = spark.createDataFrame(mtcars)
sdf.printSchema()
root |-- model: string (nullable = true) |-- mpg: double (nullable = true) |-- cyl: long (nullable = true) |-- disp: double (nullable = true) |-- hp: long (nullable = true) |-- drat: double (nullable = true) |-- wt: double (nullable = true) |-- qsec: double (nullable = true) |-- vs: long (nullable = true) |-- am: long (nullable = true) |-- gear: long (nullable = true) |-- carb: long (nullable = true)
Display the content of the Spark DataFrame:
sdf.show(32)
+-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+ | model| mpg|cyl| disp| hp|drat| wt| qsec| vs| am|gear|carb| +-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+ | Mazda RX4|21.0| 6|160.0|110| 3.9| 2.62|16.46| 0| 1| 4| 4| | Mazda RX4 Wag|21.0| 6|160.0|110| 3.9|2.875|17.02| 0| 1| 4| 4| | Datsun 710|22.8| 4|108.0| 93|3.85| 2.32|18.61| 1| 1| 4| 1| | Hornet 4 Drive|21.4| 6|258.0|110|3.08|3.215|19.44| 1| 0| 3| 1| | Hornet Sportabout|18.7| 8|360.0|175|3.15| 3.44|17.02| 0| 0| 3| 2| | Valiant|18.1| 6|225.0|105|2.76| 3.46|20.22| 1| 0| 3| 1| | Duster 360|14.3| 8|360.0|245|3.21| 3.57|15.84| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Merc 240D|24.4| 4|146.7| 62|3.69| 3.19| 20.0| 1| 0| 4| 2| | Merc 230|22.8| 4|140.8| 95|3.92| 3.15| 22.9| 1| 0| 4| 2| | Merc 280|19.2| 6|167.6|123|3.92| 3.44| 18.3| 1| 0| 4| 4| | Merc 280C|17.8| 6|167.6|123|3.92| 3.44| 18.9| 1| 0| 4| 4| | Merc 450SE|16.4| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 4.07| 17.4| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Merc 450SL|17.3| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 3.73| 17.6| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Merc 450SLC|15.2| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 3.78| 18.0| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Cadillac Fleetwood|10.4| 8|472.0|205|2.93| 5.25|17.98| 0| 0| 3| 4| |Lincoln Continental|10.4| 8|460.0|215| 3.0|5.424|17.82| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Chrysler Imperial|14.7| 8|440.0|230|3.23|5.345|17.42| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Fiat 128|32.4| 4| 78.7| 66|4.08| 2.2|19.47| 1| 1| 4| 1| | Honda Civic|30.4| 4| 75.7| 52|4.93|1.615|18.52| 1| 1| 4| 2| | Toyota Corolla|33.9| 4| 71.1| 65|4.22|1.835| 19.9| 1| 1| 4| 1| | Toyota Corona|21.5| 4|120.1| 97| 3.7|2.465|20.01| 1| 0| 3| 1| | Dodge Challenger|15.5| 8|318.0|150|2.76| 3.52|16.87| 0| 0| 3| 2| | AMC Javelin|15.2| 8|304.0|150|3.15|3.435| 17.3| 0| 0| 3| 2| | Camaro Z28|13.3| 8|350.0|245|3.73| 3.84|15.41| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Pontiac Firebird|19.2| 8|400.0|175|3.08|3.845|17.05| 0| 0| 3| 2| | Fiat X1-9|27.3| 4| 79.0| 66|4.08|1.935| 18.9| 1| 1| 4| 1| | Porsche 914-2|26.0| 4|120.3| 91|4.43| 2.14| 16.7| 0| 1| 5| 2| | Lotus Europa|30.4| 4| 95.1|113|3.77|1.513| 16.9| 1| 1| 5| 2| | Ford Pantera L|15.8| 8|351.0|264|4.22| 3.17| 14.5| 0| 1| 5| 4| | Ferrari Dino|19.7| 6|145.0|175|3.62| 2.77| 15.5| 0| 1| 5| 6| | Maserati Bora|15.0| 8|301.0|335|3.54| 3.57| 14.6| 0| 1| 5| 8| | Volvo 142E|21.4| 4|121.0|109|4.11| 2.78| 18.6| 1| 1| 4| 2| +-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+
Try different ways of retrieving subsets of the data. For example, get the first 5 values in the mpg column:
sdf.select('mpg').show(5)
+----+ | mpg| +----+ |21.0| |21.0| |22.8| |21.4| |18.7| +----+ only showing top 5 rows
Filter the DataFrame to retain only rows with mpg values that are less than 18:
sdf.filter(sdf['mpg'] < 18).show()
+-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+ | model| mpg|cyl| disp| hp|drat| wt| qsec| vs| am|gear|carb| +-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+ | Duster 360|14.3| 8|360.0|245|3.21| 3.57|15.84| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Merc 280C|17.8| 6|167.6|123|3.92| 3.44| 18.9| 1| 0| 4| 4| | Merc 450SE|16.4| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 4.07| 17.4| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Merc 450SL|17.3| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 3.73| 17.6| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Merc 450SLC|15.2| 8|275.8|180|3.07| 3.78| 18.0| 0| 0| 3| 3| | Cadillac Fleetwood|10.4| 8|472.0|205|2.93| 5.25|17.98| 0| 0| 3| 4| |Lincoln Continental|10.4| 8|460.0|215| 3.0|5.424|17.82| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Chrysler Imperial|14.7| 8|440.0|230|3.23|5.345|17.42| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Dodge Challenger|15.5| 8|318.0|150|2.76| 3.52|16.87| 0| 0| 3| 2| | AMC Javelin|15.2| 8|304.0|150|3.15|3.435| 17.3| 0| 0| 3| 2| | Camaro Z28|13.3| 8|350.0|245|3.73| 3.84|15.41| 0| 0| 3| 4| | Ford Pantera L|15.8| 8|351.0|264|4.22| 3.17| 14.5| 0| 1| 5| 4| | Maserati Bora|15.0| 8|301.0|335|3.54| 3.57| 14.6| 0| 1| 5| 8| +-------------------+----+---+-----+---+----+-----+-----+---+---+----+----+
Spark DataFrames support a number of common functions to aggregate data after grouping. For example, you can compute the average weight of cars as a function of the number of cylinders:
sdf.groupby(['cyl'])\
.agg({"wt": "AVG"})\
.show()
+---+-----------------+ |cyl| avg(wt)| +---+-----------------+ | 6|3.117142857142857| | 8|3.999214285714286| | 4|2.285727272727273| +---+-----------------+
You can also sort the output from the aggregation to determine the most popular cylinder configuration in the DataFrame:
car_counts = sdf.groupby(['cyl'])\
.agg({"wt": "count"})\
.sort("count(wt)", ascending=False)\
.show()
+---+---------+ |cyl|count(wt)| +---+---------+ | 8| 14| | 4| 11| | 6| 7| +---+---------+
Python provides a number of functions that you can apply directly to columns for data processing. In the following example, a basic arithmetic function converts lbs to metric tons:
sdf.withColumn('wtTon', sdf['wt'] * 0.45).select('model','wt','wtTon').show(6)
+-----------------+-----+-------+ | model| wt| wtTon| +-----------------+-----+-------+ | Mazda RX4| 2.62| 1.179| | Mazda RX4 Wag|2.875|1.29375| | Datsun 710| 2.32| 1.044| | Hornet 4 Drive|3.215|1.44675| |Hornet Sportabout| 3.44| 1.548| | Valiant| 3.46| 1.557| +-----------------+-----+-------+ only showing top 6 rows
You can register a Spark DataFrame as a temporary table and then run SQL queries over the data. The sql
function enables an application to run SQL queries programmatically and returns the result as a DataFrame:
sdf.createOrReplaceTempView("cars")
highgearcars = sqlContext.sql("SELECT model, gear FROM cars WHERE gear >= 5")
highgearcars.show()
+--------------+----+ | model|gear| +--------------+----+ | Porsche 914-2| 5| | Lotus Europa| 5| |Ford Pantera L| 5| | Ferrari Dino| 5| | Maserati Bora| 5| +--------------+----+
You successfully completed this notebook! You learned how to load a DataFrame, view and filter the data, aggregate the data, perform operations on the data in specific columns, and run SQL queries against the data. For more information about Spark, see the Spark Quick Start Guide.
Saeed Aghabozorgi, PhD, is a Data Scientist in IBM with a track record of developing enterprise-level applications that substantially increases clients' ability to turn data into actionable knowledge. He is a researcher in the data mining field and an expert in developing advanced analytic methods like machine learning and statistical modelling on large data sets.
Polong Lin is a Data Scientist at IBM in Canada. Under the Emerging Technologies division, Polong is responsible for educating the next generation of data scientists through Big Data University. Polong is a regular speaker in conferences and meetups, and holds an M.Sc. in Cognitive Psychology.
Copyright © 2016, 2018 Big Data University. This notebook and its source code are released under the terms of the MIT License.