Mendix and Big Data: Processing and Analyzing Large Data Sets

Data has become a critical organizational asset in the modern digital world. Companies generate large data sets, which are analyzed to establish benchmarks and baselines, helping leaders make informed business decisions. However, processing and analyzing large data sets can be daunting. Fortunately, Mendix, a low-code app development platform, allows you to build apps that simplify the processing and analysis of large data sets.

This helps you generate insight into your business by analyzing large data sets. What’s more, with just a few clicks, you can utilize your app data for statistical analysis, reporting, and business intelligence (BI). Let’s dive deeper into how Mendix accommodates big data and supports the processing and analysis of large data sets as well as optimizing Mendix when managing large data sets.

What is Mendix?

Mendix is a leading low-code app development platform that lets you build custom apps faster and at scale with minimal coding efforts. It features numerous built-in components and tools to help you easily develop, deploy, test, and maintain apps. Also, it adopts a visual model-driven development approach, enabling you to utilize drag-and-drop functionality to build applications.

What is Big Data?

As the name suggests, big data is a group of data that is large in volume and increases exponentially with time. Unlike typical data, big data contains greater volumes and variety and is generated with a higher velocity. Its variety, velocity, and volume make it complex to handle using conventional data processing software applications.

Does Mendix Support Big Data?

Mendix has, over time, released new versions of its low-code development platform to help you build smart applications. Although this platform isn’t specifically designed for big data analysis and processing, you can build apps that work with large data sets or simply big data.

But how is this possible? Well, the Mendix platform features connectors that accommodate emerging technology trends, including big data, Machine Learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT). For instance, new features were included in the Mendix version 7, including drag-and-drop connectors that you can use to wire up ML, big data, and IoT services.

As new Mendix versions are released, they have advanced capabilities and features to help you develop applications that seamlessly process and analyze large data sets. For instance, the new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities can help you deliver such apps faster, thanks to the context-based recommendations offered by AI-assisted bots.

Also read: The Power of Low-Code Business Solutions: Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Them

How Mendix Supports Processing and Analysis of Large Data Sets

As initially stated, although Mendix is not specifically designed for big data, it lets you build applications that can process and analyze large data sets. There are several ways Mendix supports the processing and analysis of large data sets, including the following:

1. Integration with Big Data Platforms

Mendix has established itself as a leader in the low-code development world. This platform offers advanced integration capabilities, allowing you to connect it to external data sources and services.

For instance, you can connect to big data platforms, such as Apache Hadoop, Apache Cassandra, and Apache Shark, using ODBC/JDBC drivers, REST APIs, and other custom connectors. Integrating these platforms with Mendix enables you to access and process large data sets stored in distributed file systems, data warehouses, and databases.

Thanks to its low-code development approach, Mendix can leverage the power of these big data platforms to execute complex data analysis and processing operations, including data aggregation, transformation, and filtering. What’s more, Mendix enables real-time data streaming and processing by leveraging big data tools like Apache Kafka, which can manage large data streams in real-time. Therefore, these integration capabilities with big data platforms allow Mendix to work with large data sets and develop custom apps that can deliver business value by analyzing and processing large volumes of data.

2. Data Modeling

Another way Mendix supports the processing and analysis of large data sets is by offering a data modeling tool. This tool enables you, as a developer, to design and create data models for large data sets. Also, you can define relationships between various data elements using the data modeling tool.

Mendix data models define access and processing rules, ensuring data is correctly analyzed and processed. What’s more, the Mendix data modeling tool features a visual interface that simplifies the designing of data models. Therefore, you can quickly and efficiently develop complex data models that can handle large data sets.

Also, Mendix integrates with external data modeling tools, such as Sparx and Erwin Systems. This enables you to smoothly import and export data models from such data modeling tools.

3. Integration with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Algorithms

Big data is closely related to other advanced technologies, including AI and ML. Mendix can integrate with AI and ML algorithms like Keras, Scikit-learn, and TensorFlow to enhance its ability to process and analyze large data sets. You can use these algorithms to analyze large data sets and develop smart predictive models that help you identify patterns, insights, and trends in the data.

Integrating ML and AI algorithms with Mendix allows more advanced data analytics and decision-making capabilities. For instance, you can use such algorithms to create predictive models that identify fraudulent activities, optimize business processes, and recommend products.

Moreover, Mendix offers a machine learning toolkit that helps you easily integrate ML models into your applications. It includes various built-in machine-learning components that can be customized for specific use cases, such as sentiment analysis, predictive modeling, and image recognition. These integration capabilities with AI and ML algorithms enable Mendix to help you make data-driven decisions and unlock the full business value of your data.

How to Optimize Mendix When Handling Large Data Sets

Often during Mendix app development, you’ll encounter badly optimized database queries caused by time constraints and sophisticated business requirements. So, how do you optimize it and reduce query time? Here are some tips to consider:

• Minimize the number of database calls
• Avoid having denormalized data
• Apply good usage of associations between entities to make data retrieval less process-intensive.

Final Thoughts

Although Mendix isn’t explicitly designed for big data processing and analysis, you can build apps that work seamlessly with large data sets. It features a data modeling tool and integrates with big data platforms through custom connectors and APIs. Also, it connects with AI and ML algorithms, enabling you to handle and analyze large data sets. Since query time can be an issue when processing and analyzing large data sets with Mendix, it would be good to consider the tips provided to minimize it. This will help optimize Mendix when processing and analyzing large data sets.