MapReduce: A major step backwards - The Database Column

MapReduce: A major step backwards - The Database Column: "As both educators and researchers, we are amazed at the hype that the MapReduce proponents have spread about how it represents a paradigm shift in the development of scalable, data-intensive applications. MapReduce may be a good idea for writing certain types of general-purpose computations, but to the database community, it is:

1. A giant step backward in the programming paradigm for large-scale data intensive applications

2. A sub-optimal implementation, in that it uses brute force instead of indexing

3. Not novel at all -- it represents a specific implementation of well known techniques developed nearly 25 years ago

4. Missing most of the features that are routinely included in current DBMS

5. Incompatible with all of the tools DBMS users have come to depend on

First, we will briefly discuss what MapReduce is; then we will go into more detail about our five reactions listed above."

As noted below, David DeWitt has recently been given a major gig heading up a new database research lab for Microsoft at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. -- MG