RapidMiner and the Three Prime Directives

OVERVIEW: Introduction to RapidMiner

RapidMiner is the world-leading open-source system for data mining. It is available as a stand-alone application for data analysis and as a data mining engine for integration into other products. Its stated functionality includes "data warehousing, data mining, on-line analytical processing (OLAP), business intelligence (coded) in Java."

The software and source is available for download at SourceForge.


PRIME DIRECTIVE ONE: Is a Useful Task Accomplished?

RapidMiner accomplishes the above-listed functions and much more. Its core function is to analyze "repositories," data-sets from which the user would like to discover knowledge. Also among its 500+ modules are: extract, transform, load (ETL), statistical forecasting, preprocessing, validation, visualization. Aiding the program's usability, there are manuals and tutorials available on the project's homepage. Various plug-ins are available to extend the program's capabilities, including reporting add-ons, web and text analytical tools, time series and signal processing.


PRIME DIRECTIVE TWO: Can an External User Install and Use the System?

The package comes in two flavors, as a user-friendly GUI and as a command line tool. As long as your computer runs Java JAR files, the program is ready to run after the user unzips the download. Simply follow the directions in the readme file or on the online installation guide. Windows users do not need any extra Java installation, and have the convenience of a .EXE installer and setup dialog. On other platforms, the user launches the program from the scripts folder.


PRIME DIRECTIVE THREE: Can an external developer can successfully understand and enhance the system?

The source code is included with the download, and changes to it are managed and recorded through Subversion (SVN). For the developer, I couldn't find documentation other than Javadocs (which are available online and for download) and sporadic comments throughout the source code. The code is commented on inconsistently and sparsely, though, which means that while Prime Directive Three checks out, it will be a tremendous challenge to gain an understanding of the workings of such a complicated program.