Data Preparation for Data Mining (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Paperback)

by Dorian Pyle (Author) "Data exploration starts with data, right?..." (more)
Key Phrases: unprepared data, using prepared data, data preparation techniques, Complete Content, Montreal Canadiens, Paul Revere (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Data Preparation for Data Mining addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation. Thanks largely to its perceived difficulty, data preparation has traditionally taken a backseat to the more alluring question of how best to extract meaningful knowledge. But without adequate preparation of your data, the return on the resources invested in mining is certain to be disappointing.

Dorian Pyle corrects this imbalance. A twenty-five-year veteran of what has become the data mining industry, Pyle shares his own successful data preparation methodology, offering both a conceptual overview for managers and complete technical details for IT professionals. Apply his techniques and watch your mining efforts pay off-in the form of improved performance, reduced distortion, and more valuable results.

On the enclosed CD-ROM, you'll find a suite of programs as C source code and compiled into a command-line-driven toolkit. This code illustrates how the author's techniques can be applied to arrive at an automated preparation solution that works for you. Also included are demonstration versions of three commercial products that help with data preparation, along with sample data with which you can practice and experiment.

* Offers in-depth coverage of an essential but largely ignored subject.
* Goes far beyond theory, leading you-step by step-through the author's own data preparation techniques.
* Provides practical illustrations of the author's methodology using realistic sample data sets.
* Includes algorithms you can apply directly to your own project, along with instructions for understanding when automation is possible and when greater intervention is required.
* Explains how to identify and correct data problems that may be present in your application.
* Prepares miners, helping them head into preparation with a better understanding of data sets and their limitations.

From the Back Cover

Data Preparation for Data Mining addresses an issue unfortunately ignored by most authorities on data mining: data preparation. Thanks largely to its perceived difficulty, data preparation has traditionally taken a backseat to the more alluring question of how best to extract meaningful knowledge. But without adequate preparation of your data, the return on the resources invested in mining is certain to be disappointing.

Dorian Pyle corrects this imbalance. A twenty-five-year veteran of what has become the data mining industry, Pyle shares his own successful data preparation methodology, offering both a conceptual overview for managers and complete technical details for IT professionals. Apply his techniques and watch your mining efforts pay off-in the form of improved performance, reduced distortion, and more valuable results.

Features

• Offers in-depth coverage of an essential but largely ignored subject.
  
• Goes far beyond theory, leading you-step by step-through the author's own data preparation techniques.
  
• Provides practical illustrations of the author's methodology using realistic sample data sets.
  
• Includes algorithms you can apply directly to your own project, along with instructions for understanding when automation is possible and when greater intervention is required.
  
• Explains how to identify and correct data problems that may be present in your application.
  
• Prepares miners, helping them head into preparation with a better understanding of data sets and their limitations.

On the enclosed CD-ROM, you'll find a suite of programs as C source code and compiled into a command-line-driven toolkit. This code illustrates how the author's techniques can be applied to arrive at an automated preparation solution that works for you. Also included are demonstration versions of three commercial products that help with data preparation, along with sample data with which you can practice and experiment.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 540 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; Book & CD-ROM 1st edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558605290
• ISBN-13: 978-1558605299
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #387,787 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have..., April 27, 1999

By	Greg James ([e-mail]) (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

I've had the pleasure of listening to Dorian speak at seminars and even sharing a few brief words with him in person. When he mentioned to me last year that he was working on this book I had no idea how thorough and complete it would be. In fact, I remember wondering to myself how anyone could get their hands around this difficult, yet important aspect of data mining. I'm in awe! Anyone in the trenches will immediately understand the value of this book. Those just getting started in data mining will probably have no idea how much simpler their job just became. My only criticism of this book is that its title obscures that fact that there is a wealth of general data mining information contained within it - practical well beyond the data preparation phase. To understand why and how certain data preparation techniques work is to go a long way towards appreciating subtleties throughout the rest of the data mining process. Thanks Dorian!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The true data miner toolkit, May 21, 1999

By	patrick darmon (Paris France) - See all my reviews

This book is simply great, it provides the best practices about the essence of data mining : data preparation

Any analyst knows that 80% of data mining time is spent in data preparation, nevertheless most authors focus on the remaining 20% : techniques and tools, where the value is more "visible"

The truth is that this value is unavaillable, unless you get data prepared, and that's the difficult job

Dorian book's allows you to understand this obscure process through a great analytical process. Strongly recommended

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have book, December 26, 2002

By	David B Fiery (The Midwest) - See all my reviews

Anyone who practices data mining lives the issues discussed in this book. The book dissects and explains important data challenges.

Dorian communicates far more than knowledge about the nomenclature of the problems. His focus is instead on the trade-offs one makes while wrestling with data issues. He provides sage counsel on how the practioner can address data for the specific types of analytical problems one faces.

I own about 15 data mining books, this is the one that I use the most.