Anaconda vs. Azure Databricks

I have asked all my juniors to work with Anaconda and Pycharm only, as this is the best combination for now. Coming to use cases: 1. When you have multiple applications using multiple Python variants, it is a really good tool instead of Venv (I never like it). 2. If you have to work on multiple tools and you are someone who needs to work on data analytics, development, and machine learning, this is good. 3. If you have to work with both R and Python, then also this is a good tool, and it provides support for both.

Incentivized

Having access to all databases and tables in one place is what has helped me and my team to function better. The in built functionality/access to SQL and Python is definitely an added bonus! The icing on the cake is the ability to export your data into an Excel spreadsheet for additional analysis. If you have less to no working knowledge of SQL or Python, its better to look at alternatives.

Incentivized

• Installing packages is very easy with Anaconda. Anaconda comes with 'anaconda navigator', a terminal-like utility from which you can easily install R packages and python libraries.
• Launching R and python IDEs as well as Jupyter notebooks from anaconda navigator is simple, and Anaconda makes it very easy to keep these packages up-to-date.
• I really like the fact that if you don't want to install the full version of Anaconda, you can opt to install a lightweight version (called Miniconda) that includes less python libraries and only core conda. I've installed it when I didn't want to take up as much disk space as Anaconda requires, but it works just the same.

Incentivized

• Consistently great performance when dealing with huge scale data with the help of spark architecture
• Magic commands such as spark sql, pyspark, scala . This comes really handy in day to day work
• Integration with other Azure services is super smooth and robust

Incentivized

• More graphics need in Spyder book. If you work for couple of years then you will be bored with the graphics.
• Extra tools are required for making it secure. We uses extra tools for adding Username /Password to Jupyter.
• R Studio Hangs a lot when open from Anaconda Navigator.

Incentivized

• Intuitive interface
• Ease of use
• Providing FAQ or QRGs

Incentivized

It's really good at data processing, but needs to grow more in publishing in a way that a non-programmer can interact with. It also introduces confusion for programmers that are familiar with normal Python processes which are slightly different in Anaconda such as virtualenvs.

Incentivized

I am giving this rating because I have been using this tool since 2017, and I was in college at that time. Initially, I hesitated to use it as I was not very aware of the workings of Python and how difficult it is to manage its dependency from project to project. Anaconda really helped me with that. The first machine-learning model that I deployed on the Live server was with Anaconda only. It was so managed that I only installed libraries from the requirement.txt file, and it started working. There was no need to manually install cuda or tensor flow as it was a very difficult job at that time. Graphical data modeling also provides tools for it, and they can be easily saved to the system and used anywhere.

Incentivized

Based on my extensive use of Azure Databricks for the past 3.5 years, it has evolved into a beautiful amalgamation of all the data domains and needs. From a data analyst, to a data engineer, to a data scientist, it jas got them all! Being language agnostic and focused on easy to use UI based control, it is a dream to use for every Data related personnel across all experience levels!

Incentivized

Anaconda provides fast support, and a large number of users moderate its online community. This enables any questions you may have to be answered in a timely fashion, regardless of the topic. The fact that it is based in a Python environment only adds to the size of the online community.

Incentivized

One of the main competitors to Anaconda can be Google products such as Colab. Colab gives you the flexibility to handle large datasets gives it an edge over Anaconda. But again, the ease of access and usability of Anaconda stacks up against Colab. Besides, Anaconda relies more on your machine which makes it safe to use.

Incentivized

Against all the tools I have used, Azure Databricks is by far the most superior of them all! Why, you ask? The UI is modern, the features are never ending and they keep adding new features. And to quote Apple, "It just works!" Far ahead of the competition, the delta lakehouse platform also fares better than it counterparts of Iceberg implementation or a loosely bound Delta Lake implementation of Synapse

Incentivized

• Positive impact - Multiple options for data presenting , visualizing and sharing. (Eg: R-Markdown).
• Positive impact - Ease of access to build complex machine learning models. (I work in NLP, it has multiple built in models to analyze the various contexts).
• Positive impact - Conda package let's to deal with external packages which can be used in Jupyter.

Incentivized

• The support team is amazing, they help you at every stage of the projects, from sales to delivery.
• On a framework level, it has had an amazing impact and has reduced the clients overall data platform costs by a staggering 65%
• There has been a 40% Manual work requirement on average for the clients when they move to Azure Databricks Data Platform

Incentivized