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Databases & Data

The most popular blog posts about databases & data on Hacker News. 1,888 posts.

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1476

Python for Data Analysis

I recommend using Python for data analysis, and I recommend Wes McKinney's book Python for Data Analysis. I prefer Python to R for mathematical computing because mathematical computing doesn't exist in a vacuum; there's always other stuff to do. I find doing mathematical programming in a general-purpose language is…

1479

Dicom File Format Basics

Explore the fundamentals of the DICOM file format! This quick introduction covers the basics of DICOM's structure, its essential uses, and tips for easily navigating its complex and abstract components.

1480

SQL + M4 = Composable SQL

I often work with clients who have large “data lakes” or big star schema style enterprise databases with fact and dimension tables as far as the eye can see. Invariably said clients end up with a substantial SQL codebase composed of hundreds of independent queries with lots of overlap between them. I want to be able…

1490

MitM-ing Postgres

I recently had to set up a new postgres instance at work. While we’re already using Heroku Postgres for production loads, we had some requirements for this one that couldn’t be solved without being database admin, and thus had to go self-hosted. That...

1497

Map Simplification with Visvalingam's Algorithm

An interesting challenge in cartography is getting data of the appropriate resolution. As Lewis Fry Richardson observed , the more precisely you measure the length of a coastline, the longer it appears; geographic shapes have infinite complexity. Digital displays, in contrast, are limited by pixels. Choosing too high…