AI engineering glossary · Data engineering
What is data lake?
Data lake: A large store that keeps raw data in its original format, structured, semi-structured or unstructured, cheaply on object storage. Structure is applied when the data is read, which gives flexibility for data science but risks turning into an unmanaged swamp without cataloguing.
Data lake: an example
A lake holds JSON clickstream, PDF invoices and camera images side by side in an S3 bucket, all available for later analysis or model training.
Related terms
More Data engineering terms
- Data lakehouse
- Data lineage
- Data mart
- Data mesh
- Data modelling
- Data observability
- Data pipeline
- Data profiling
Where you learn it
Data lake is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.