Introduction to Data Systems

Encompassing a broad range of forms and sources of data, this textbook introduces data systems through a progressive presentation. Introduction to Data Systemscovers data acquisition starting with local files, then progresses to data acquired from relational databases,from REST APIs and through web scraping. It teaches data forms/formats from tidy data to relationally definedsets of tables to hierarchical structure like XML and JSON using data models to convey the structure,operations, and constraints of each data form. The starting point of the book is a foundation in Python programming found in introductory computer scienceclasses or short courses on the language, and so does not require prerequisites of data structures, algorithms,or other courses. This makes the material accessible to students early in their educational career and equipsthem with understanding and skills that can be applied in computer science, data science/data analytics,and information technology programs as well as for internships and research experiences. This book isaccessible to a wide variety of students. By drawing together content normally spread across upper levelcomputer science courses, it offers a single source providing the essentials for data science practitioners. Inour increasingly data-centric world, students from all domains will benefit from the "data-aptitude" built bythe material in this book.