Pig Latin

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What Does Pig Latin Mean?

Pig Latin is a type of programming language utilized for working in Apache Pig, which is a software resource for creating certain kinds of data analysis programs.

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Techopedia Explains Pig Latin

The Apache Hadoop resource set is a very popular way to aggregate and sort data. In the big data craze of recent years, Hadoop plays an integral role, along with supporting tools like Apache Pig. Hadoop and related tools and accessories are almost entirely open source, which means that they are not sold with conventional licensing fees.

The Hadoop platform includes several main elements, including a system called MapReduce for batch handling data and a Hadoop HDFS file-handling system. Apache Pig involves a compiler that produces MapReduce data sets. The goal is to analyze big data sets.

Developers created the Pig Latin language in order to help operators use Pig effectively. The makers of this product talk about an "ease of programming" that relies on the textual nature of Pig Latin, where direct commands are easy to express semantically. There is also the promise of versatility built into the software.

A look at this relatively easy language, which is complementary to popular programming languages like Java and Python, shows that this language follows certain conventions, for example, the use of variables like integer, float, Boolean and others in Java and other languages, along with simple operators alike—Dexribe, Dump, Explain and Illustrate—each of which promotes a simple data result. Pig Latin also includes a set of relational operators like Group, Filter, and Join that are traditional parts of querying languages. Other elements of easy cheat sheets for Pig Latin include string functions, mathematical functions, date-time functions and other types of command syntaxes.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.