Machine Learning straight through SQL

Machine learning is one area that cannot succeed without data. Traditionally, machine learning frameworks read it from CSV files or similar data sources. This brings an interesting set of challenges because in most cases the data is stored in databases, not simple raw files. It takes time and effort to move data from one format to another. Additionally, one needs to write some code (usually python) to prepare the data just like the ML framework expects it.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw during the MariaDB Server Fest that MindsDB, an automatic machine learning system, presented their integration with MariaDB.

A GSoC internship with the MariaDB Foundation

Introduction

Hi, my name is Kartik Soneji, and I am a second year student at Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Mumbai. I have been programming since the age of 13. I started out with Java, then learnt a little C++ before diving head first into web development with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I also programmed a bit in Python and Rust to see what all the hype was about.

My primary motivation to contribute to the open source community is because I strongly believe in the idea that software is free, to copy, modify and study.

FOSDEM 2020: Some memories and todos

FOSDEM gives energy. FOSDEM gives ideas. FOSDEM opens up opportunities, FOSDEM allows you to connect with old friends and colleagues. Hence, no big surprise that MariaDB Foundation attended FOSDEM, in order to promote Open Source and to get ourselves closer to the community.

FOSDEM logo

Starting from a pre-FOSDEM dinner with Member of the European Parliament Nils Torvalds, over Open Source Diva Danese Cooper’s keynote about “Open Source is Art”, to the MySQL, MariaDB and Friends Devroom and Sunday’s MariaDB Day, concluding with OpenForum Europe’s meeting on Monday, my previous weekend was packed with encounters, discussions, and ideas around Open Source.

MariaDB Day Brussels 02.02.2020 – Introducing speakers – Sveta Smirnova on How to Avoid Pitfalls in Schema Upgrade with Galera

Galera Cluster for MySQL is a 100% synchronized cluster in regards to data modification operations (DML). It is ensured by the optimistic locking model and ability to rollback a transaction, which cannot be applied on all nodes. However, schema changes (DDL operations) are not transactional in MySQL, which adds complexity when you need to perform an upgrade or change schema of the database.
Changes made by DDL may affect results of the queries. Therefore all modifications must replicate on all nodes prior next data access. For operations which run momentarily it can be easily achieved, but schema changes may take hours to apply.

MariaDB Day Brussels 02.02.2020 – Introducing speakers – Seppo Jaakola on MariaDB 10.5 new Galera features

Galera R&D team is currently finalizing new features targeted for the next MariaDB 10.5 release. This presentation is a high level overview of the most prominent Galera clustering features under work, such as:

* Non Blocking DDL – for less turbulence of schema upgrades in a cluster
* Cluster Error Voting – for immediate recovery of node failures
* XA transaction Support – for executing XA transactions in a multi-master cluster
* GTID consistency – for consistent GTIDs in hybrid cluster / replication topologies
* Black Box – cluster hardening through more detailed diagnostics

MariaDB day Brussels 02.02.2020 – Introducing speakers – Vicențiu Ciorbaru on comparing MariaDB and MySQL Roles.

MySQL 8.0 has introduced roles, a feature that was present since MariaDB 10.0. There are quite a number of differences between the two databases.

During the MariaDB day Vicențiu will present a comparison between them and see how roles are useful for your application and what are the key differences to consider when working with both databases.

MariaDB Day Brussels 02.02.2020 – Introducing speakers – Vlad Bogolin on ensuring MariaDB Server’s longevity with an open build system for the community.

For a large Open Source project to survive, it needs the right testing infrastructure in place. Because of this, the MariaDB Foundation made the whole build system a community shared resource. In this talk we will show how we have accomplished this and how the community can benefit.

MariaDB Day is part of FOSDEM Fringe and will be held on Sunday 2 February 2020. Attendance is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP on the Meetup page if you plan to attend.

MariaDB Day Brussels 02.02.2020 – Introducing speakers – Andrew Hutchings on ColumnStore engine

MariaDB has an Open Source engine called ColumnStore which provides columnar storage capabilities. During the MariaDB Day Andrew Hutchings (a.k.a. LinuxJedi) will hold a talk explaining what columnar storage is, how it works and the advantages / disadvantages of it. He will also talk about how you can use it to help with things such as your analytical workloads alongside your traditional OLTP workloads.