Do you think that Java knowledge is required to learn Hadoop and Big Data?

Hadoop is an open-source, Java-based programming framework that supports the processing of large data sets in a distributed computing environment. Based on Google’s MapReduce model, Hadoop distributes computing jobs and then combines results. The MapReduce scripts used here are written in Java. Now, it is pretty obvious that to work on Hadoop, knowledge in Java is imperative. And having knowledge in Java makes it a cake walk when it comes to switching over to Hadoop. read less

Java knowledge, though helpful, is not really a must for learning about Big Data or Hadoop. Hadoop, at its core is a distributed file system (HDFS) as well as a distributed programming framework (MapReduce) for manipulating data stored in HDFS. Though Hadoop is built with java, MapReduce programming can be done using languages other than java, such as Python or even Pig. Big Data is more than just Hadoop and it is not required to know java to work with different aspects of Big Data such as data modelling using NoSQL, Hive, doing data analytics using R, Matlab or even performing data visualization using tools like Tableau, QlikView, etc. read less

It is important from a developers point of you, there are two aspects in learning hadoop, one is pure development for which knowledge in Java is must, second is from the administration point of you which require limited knowledge on Java. Hadoop or any bigdata appliance not just only works on Java,the framework is open to support other programming models as well like python, ruby on rails etc... read less

Our conclusion is that Java is NOT required as a prerequisite to learn Hadoop and Big Data. Let us ask a question to ourselves. Do we need to learn C and C++ to be able to learn Informatica or Datastage, BusinessObjects or any other ETL, Reporting tool? Most of these tools are written in C, C++ , Java or Asp.net. Purpose of building these Data access or data management tool was to make things easier for developers and administrators and they dont have to write low level programs for simple things like loading a file, doing transformations or creating a visualization on data. We have tools for all these things which would automatically convert your design to low level compiled programs and run them without any hassle. For Hadoop same is true. Yes Hadoop is written in Java but do you need to know Java before learning Hadoop? NO !! Why?? Let me explain. Hadoop is a Data management and Data processing Tool, the only difference between Hadoop and other traditional ETL tools (like Informatica) is that Hadoop can process "Big Data". Other tools are not so effective to handle Big data so far. Now why would a data analyst or an ETL program start writing Java program for simple things like loading a file? There are tools for that on Hadoop, you can use PIG for that. And why would you write a program to read data from a file? Use HIVE for that. In reality 95% of the ETL and BI project teams are using HIVE and PIG. They CANNOT write lengthy Java Programs. PIG and HIVE provides simple SQL like language and Hadoop automatically convert these programs into Java MapReduce programs. Yes, it automatically converts all HIVE/PIG scripts to Java MapReduce internally. You don't have to write Java programs. There are more and more enhancements happening on PIG and HIVE and many UDF are also getting added so there would not be even a 5% need to write MapReduce on Java in future. If you are planning to learn Hadoop, start immediately , don't wait to first learn Java and then start Hadoop. You would realize that you had wasted your time. read less