Big data & Spark
PySpark jobs, partitioning, batch processing, and large-dataset transform patterns.
Approximate Distinct Count in Python with HyperLogLog
Mock a large data stream and estimate the number of distinct items with a HyperLogLog-style probabilistic counter to save memory.
import random
import string
from collections import Counter
import math
class ApproxCountDistinct:
def __init__(self, num_buckets=16):
self.num_buckets = num_buckets
self.max_zeros = [0] * num_buckets
def _hash(self, item):
# Simple string hash to a 32-bit integer
h = …How to Implement collect_list in Python
Group rows by a key and collect all corresponding values into a list — a pure-Python mock of Spark's collect_list aggregation.
from collections import defaultdict
def collect_list(rows, key_field, value_field):
grouped = defaultdict(list)
for row in rows:
grouped[row[key_field]].append(row[value_field])
return dict(grouped)
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [
{"dept": "sales", "emp": "alice"},
{"dept"…How to Truncate Lineage Back to a Checkpoint in Python
Walks a linked list of lineage nodes upward to find the nearest checkpoint and returns that node, truncating the lineage.
class LineageNode:
def __init__(self, name, parent=None, checkpoint=None):
self.name = name
self.parent = parent
self.checkpoint = checkpoint
def truncate_at_checkpoint(self):
"""Truncate lineage back to the last checkpoint."""
current = self
while current.check…HyperLogLog Cardinality Estimation in Python
A small HyperLogLog implementation using MD5 hashing and 256 registers to estimate the number of unique items in a large stream with fixed memory.
import hashlib
import math
class HyperLogLog:
def __init__(self, b=8):
self.b = b
self.m = 1 << b
self.registers = [0] * self.m
self.alpha = 0.7213 / (1 + 1.079 / self.m)
def add(self, item):
h = int(hashlib.md5(str(item).encode()).hexdigest(), 16)
idx = h & (s…Browse by section
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Big data & Spark — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects big data & spark snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
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