This comprehensive guide, featuring hand-picked examples of daily use cases, will walk you through the end-to-end predictive model-building cycle using the latest techniques and industry tricks. In Chapters 1, 2, and 3, we will begin by setting up the environment and covering the basics of PySpark, focusing on data manipulation. Chapter 4 delves into the art of variable selection, demonstrating various techniques available in PySpark. In Chapters 5, 6, and 7, we explore machine learning algorithms, their implementations, and fine-tuning techniques. Chapters 8 and 9 will guide you through machine learning pipelines and various methods to operationalize and serve models using Docker/API. Chapter 10 will demonstrate how to unlock the power of predictive models to create a meaningful impact on your business. Chapter 11 introduces some of the most widely used and powerful modeling frameworks to unlock real value from data.

In this new edition, you will learn predictive modeling frameworks that can quantify customer lifetime values and estimate the return on your predictive modeling investments. This edition also includes methods to measure engagement and identify actionable populations for effective churn treatments. Additionally, a dedicated chapter on experimentation design has been added, covering steps to efficiently design, conduct, test, and measure the results of your models. All code examples have been updated to reflect the latest stable version of Spark.

You will:

• Gain an overview of end-to-end predictive model building


• Understand multiple variable selection techniques and their implementations


• Learn how to operationalize models


• Perform data science experiments and learn useful tips