SFrame vs DataFrame in Data Science

What is a dataset

Oxford Dictionary defines a dataset as “a collection of data that is treated as a single unit by a computer”. This means that a dataset contains a lot of separate pieces of data but can be used to train an algorithm with the goal of finding predictable patterns inside the whole dataset.

Data is a critical component of every AI model and, in many ways, the primary reason for the current surge in popularity of machine learning.
Scalable machine learning algorithms are becoming viable as quality products that may add value to a business, rather than being a by-product of its core operations, thanks to the availability of data.

Sframe
The term SFrame refers to a scalable data frame. A dataframe object with a tabular, column-mutable layout that can handle large amounts of data. The data in SFrame is organized by column.

DataFrame
A Dataframe is a two-dimensional data structure, i.e., data is aligned in a tabular fashion in rows and columns. In dataframe datasets arrange in rows and columns, we can store any number of datasets in a dataframe.

Comparison

First now lets see what is the similarity of Sframe and Dataframe

An SFrame and a DataFrame are Python data structures that are used to represent data collections. A record is represented by a row, and a variable is represented by a column in both. Indexes may be used to find data and variables in both cases.

Differences are mainly these :

• DataFrame supports only in-memory operations whereas SFrame supports out-of-core operation as well. This means that whole DataFrame needs to be loaded in memory to make an operation over it whereas SFrame can work by loading a part of SFrame in memory while keeping a part of it at persistent storage. This out-of-core quality makes SFrame more scalable for big data. Sframe(uses Swap memory)
• DataFrame is size-mutable as well as value-mutable structure, SFrame is column-mutable (It can add and delete columns).
• DataFrame is provided by pandas library. SFrame is provided by graphlab library (Created by Turi)
• DataFrame makes use of Series for linear data storage. SFrame uses SArray for the same.

Hope the tutorial was helpful. If there is anything we missed out, do let us know through comments.😇

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