computer science

KNIME

KNIME is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand KNIME rather than just read about it. In short: KNIME ( ), the Konstanz Information Miner, is a data analytics, reporting and integrating platform. KNIME integrates various components for machine learning and data mining through its modular data pipelining "Building Blocks of Analytics" concept.

Key takeaways

KNIME belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect KNIME to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of KNIME from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

KNIME ( ), the Konstanz Information Miner, is a data analytics, reporting and integrating platform. KNIME integrates various components for machine learning and data mining through its modular data pipelining "Building Blocks of Analytics" concept. A graphical user interface and use of Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) allows assembly of nodes blending different data sources, including preprocessing (extract, transform, load, or ETL), for modeling, data analysis and visualization with minimal, or no, programming. It is free and open-source software released under a GNU General Public License. Since 2006, KNIME has been used in pharmaceutical research, and in other areas including customer relationship management (CRM) and data analysis, business intelligence, text mining and financial data analysis. Recently, attempts were made to use KNIME as robotic process automation (RPA) tool. KNIME's headquarters are based in Zurich, with other offices in Konstanz, Berlin, and Austin (USA).

History Development of KNIME began in January 2004, with a team of software engineers at the University of Konstanz, as an open-source platform. The original team, headed by Michael Berthold, came from a Silicon Valley pharmaceutical industry software company. The initial goal was to create a modular, highly scalable and open data processing platform that allows easy integration of different data loading, processing, transforming, analyzing, and visual exploring modules, without focus on any one application area. The platform was intended for collaborating, research, and for integrating various other data analysis projects. In 2006, the first version of KNIME was released. Several pharmaceutical companies began using KNIME, and several life science software vendors began integrating their tools into the platform. Later that year, after an article in the German magazine c't, users from a number of other areas joined ship. As of 2012, KNIME is in use by over 15,000 actual users (i.e. not counting downloads, but users regularly retrieving updates) in the life sciences and at banks, publishers, car manufacturer, telcos, consulting firms, and various other industries, and a large number of research groups, worldwide. Latest updates to KNIME Server and KNIME Big Data Extensions, provide support for Apache Spark 2.3, Parquet and HDFS-type storage. For the sixth year in a row, KNIME has been placed as a leader for data science and machine learning platforms in Gartner's Magic Quadrant.

Design philosophy, features These are the design principles and features that KNIME software follows:

Visual, Interactive Framework: KNIME Software prioritizes a user-friendly and intuitive approach to data analysis. This is achieved through a visual and interactive framework where data flows can be combined using a drag-and-drop interface. Users can develop customized and interactive applications by creating simple to advanced and highly-automated data pipelines. These may include, for example, access to databases, machine learning libraries, logic for workflow control (e.g., loops, switches, etc.), abstraction (e.g., interactive widgets), invocation, dynamic data apps, integrated deployment, or error handling. Modularity: processing units and data containers should remain independent of each other. This design choice enables easy distribution of computation and allows for the independent development of different algorithms. Data types within KNIME are encapsulated, meaning no types are predefined. This design choice facilitates adding new data types, and integrating them with extant types, while including type-specific renderers and comparators. This principle also enables inspecting results at the end of each single data operation. Extensibility: KNIME Software is designed to be extensible. Adding new processing nodes or views is made simple through a plug-in mechanism. This mechanism ensures that users can distribute their custom functionalities without the need for complicated install or uninstall procedures. Interleaving No-Code with Code: the platform supports integrating both visual programming (no-code) and script-based programming (e.g., Python, R, JavaScript) approaches to data analysis. This design principle is termed low-code. Automation and Scalability: for example, the use of parameterization via flow variables, or the encapsulation of workflow segments in components contribute to reduce manual work and errors in analyses. Further, the scheduling of workflow execution (available in KNIME Business Hub and KNIME Community Hub for Teams) reduces dependency on human resources. In terms of scalability, a few examples include the ability to handle large datasets (millions of rows), execute multiple processes simultaneously out of the box and reuse workflow segments. Full Usability: due to the open source nature, KNIME Analytics Platform provides free full usability with no limited trial periods.

Internals KNIME allows users to visually create data flows (or pipelines), selectively execute some or all analysis steps, and later inspect the results, models, using interactive widgets and views. KNIME is written in Java and based on Eclipse. It makes use of an extension mechanism to add plug-ins providing added functions. The core version includes hundreds of modules for data integration (file input/output (I/O), database nodes supporting all common database management systems through JDBC or native connectors: SQLite, MS-Access, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Vertica and H2), data transformation (filter, converter, splitter, combiner, joiner), and the commonly used methods of statistics, data mining, analysis and text analytics. Visualization is supported with the Report Designer extension. KNIME workflows can be used as data sets to create report templates that can be exported to document formats such as doc, ppt, xls, pdf and others. Other KNIME abilities are:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with KNIME

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what KNIME claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to KNIME before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about KNIME ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of KNIME

In research: KNIME appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses KNIME in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: KNIME is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 software, Data mining and machine learning software, Extract, transform, load tools, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for KNIME outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study KNIME in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what KNIME means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain KNIME out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is KNIME in simple terms?

Why does KNIME matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study KNIME?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on KNIME.