Professional Training
HPCC Systems offers professional training programs to help you master the HPCC Systems platform and ECL programming language. We offer a variety of classes suitable for different experience levels and different organizational roles.
Training classes are available in several ways:
- HPCC Systems training center — We conduct classes on a regular schedule at our training center in Alpharetta, Georgia. Note: Classes are currently being conducted using Microsoft Teams until further notice. See here for a schedule of upcoming classes.
- Onsite training – We can provide onsite training at your location. A minimum of 10 students is required with a maximum of 20 students. Price is based on per person plus travel expenses. Contact us for more information at training@hpccsystems.com.
- Online training – Introductory classes are available online and free for anyone wanting to learn the basics of ECL and the HPCC Systems platform. Sign up at learn.lexisnexis.com/hpcc to get started. View brochure for more information.
I learned how to clean and transform ‘Big Data’ with ECL. After the training, I got the job offer. Now I use ECL to solve ‘Big Data’ problems every day in my work.
— Dora Pan, Florida State University now at Comrise Inc.
Recommended Learning Tracks:
Introductory Training Classes
If you want to get on the fast track to becoming productive with ECL on HPCC Systems, these classes are essential for all developers new to the ECL Language. Each course includes a series of hands-on exercises using concepts and language statements introduced during the class.
Introduction to HPCC Systems for Managers
Course Length: 1 day
Class Prerequisites: None. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- HPCC Systems Overview (Thor and ROXIE)
- Introduction to ECL Concepts and Syntax
- Introduction to the ECL IDE and ECL Watch programming tools
- Creating Simple ECL Queries
This class is for anyone who wants to understand the HPCC Systems platform and see how ECL can build powerful data queries. Any manager who needs a basic familiarity with HPCC Systems should take this course.
Visit the Training page for more information and registration.
Introduction to ECL (Part 1) – Concepts and Queries
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: None. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- HPCC Systems Overview (Thor and ROXIE)
- Introduction to ECL Concepts and Syntax
- Using the ECL IDE and ECL Watch programming tools
- Flat and CSV File Sprays
- Defining Files (RECORD/DATASET)
- Record Filtering
- Basic definition types – Boolean, Value, Set, Recordset
- Creating Simple ECL Queries
- Managing your ECL code
- Despraying Files
This class is for developers who want to understand HPCC Systems and learn ECL to build powerful data queries. Anyone who needs a basic familiarity with ECL should take this course.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
Introduction to ECL (Part 2) – the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) Process
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: Students must have attended the Introduction to ECL (Part 1) – Concepts and Queries training class. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- Principles of ETL in ECL
- The TABLE function (Memory Tables)
- TRANSFORM functions (PROJECT, etc.)
- Data Hygiene (Cleaning and Standardization)
- Lookup Tables
- OUTPUT to disk files
- Simple JOINs
- New! Data Patterns and Visualization
This intermediate level class class is for developers who want to extend their knowledge of ECL to Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) any data with the HPCC Systems environment. Anyone planning to write and work with ECL code should attend this course.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
ROXIE ECL (Part 1) – Indexes and Queries
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites:
Students must have attended the Introduction to ECL (Part 1) – Concepts and Queries and the Introduction to ECL (Part 2) – the Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) Process. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- Defining and Creating INDEXes
- Using FETCH
- Creating ROXIE Queries (STORED)
- Testing queries in hThor
- Deploying to ROXIE
- Payload Indexes
- Full and Half-Keyed JOINs
- Optimizing Queries (LIMIT, ATMOST, KEEP)
This class is for developers who want to extend their knowledge of ECL to developing ROXIE queries for end-user use. In this course you will learn the benefits of payload indexes as well as use of the indexed joins that make query results fast. Anyone planning to write ECL code to provide final product data to end-users should attend this course.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
Introduction to HPCC System Administration
Course Length: 5 days
Class Prerequisites: None. Informal Thor and ROXIE Administration classes are presented by the LexisNexis Risk Solutions HPCC Systems Operations team in Boca Raton when requested. Please contact us at training@hpccsystems.com for more information.
Topics include:
- HPCC Systems Overview (Thor and ROXIE)
- Introduction to ECL Concepts and Syntax
- Using the ECL IDE and ECL Watch programming tools
- Flat and CSV File Sprays
- Defining Files (RECORD/DATASET)
- Configuration and maintenance of HPCC Systems (Thor and ROXIE)
- Troubleshooting
This class is for system administrators who will be maintaining Thor and ROXIE environments.
Visit the Training page for more information.
Advanced Training Classes
The Advanced Training Classes are designed for the developer who has a specific need beyond the introductory courses. Each course includes a series of hands-on exercises using concepts and techniques introduced during the class. Each class stands alone, so they may be taken in any order.
Advanced ECL (Part 1) – Working with Relational Data
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: Students must have attended the Introduction to ECL (Part 1) – Concepts and Queries and Introduction to ECL (Part 2) – Super files, Working with XML, and Free-form Text training classes. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- Creating hierarchical relational datasets (Nested Child Datasets)
- Nested Child Dataset Definitions (RECORD/DATASET)
- NORMALIZE and DENORMALIZE
- Complex Multi-level Relational Querying
This class examines in detail the ECL functions that make it easy to work with Relational data in HPCC Systems. ECL began as an extremely powerful query language built around easily querying into Relational Data. The techniques taught here reveal that power to its fullest.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
Advanced ECL (Part 2) – Super files, Working with XML, and Free-form Text Parsing
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: Students must have attended the Introduction to ECL (Part 1) – Concepts and Queries and Introduction to ECL (Part 2) – the Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) Process training classes. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- SuperFiles and SuperKeys
- Simple XML Spray and Dataset Definition
- Working with XML Data (simple, complex, and nested)
- Complex XML Spraying and De-spraying
- PARSE with XML Data
- Spraying and defining free-form text data
- PARSE with free-form text
This course explores the concept of Super Files in ECL and the techniques for working with XML data, getting it into your HPCC Systems cluster, and defining it to work with other data elements. This flows naturally into the detailed ECL support of Natural Language Parsing – creating pattern-matching definitions and using the PARSE function to extract data from either XML or free-form text.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
Machine Learning with HPCC Systems
Course Length: Online, self-paced
Class Prerequisites: Students must have attended the Introduction to ECL (Part 2) – the Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) Process training classes.
Topics include:
- Introduction to Machine Learning
- A Learning Tree Tutorial
- Using the Myriad Interface
- Introduction to Deep Learning
- Generalized Neural Network (GNN) Tutorial
- Using the KMeans Bundle
- Using the DBSAN Bundle
This course explores the the fundamentals of Machine Learning with ECL, and explores many of the supported open source Machine Learning bundles.
Visit the Training page for more information.
ROXIE ECL (Part 2) – Complex Query Development
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: Students must have attended the Advanced ECL (Part 2) – Super files, Working with XML, and Free-form Text Parsing, and the ROXIE ECL (Part 1) – Indexes and Queries training classes. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- Using INTERFACE structures with ROXIE queries
- Limiting your ROXIE results (LIMIT, JOIN, CHOOSEN)
- Designing queries using multiple datasets
- Case insensitive searches
- Use of Superkeys in ROXIE queries
- Use of package maps for Query organization
- ROXIE-specific functions (PRELOAD, ALLNODES, etc.)
- ROXIE Post filtering
Learn how to optimize and organize your ROXIE queries for optimal performance. This class reviews and recommends best practices used in ROXIE development, including INTERFACE, Half Keyed JOINS, LIMIT, superkeys, and package maps.
Visit the Training page for more information on dates and registration.
Applied Training Classes
The Applied Training Classes are designed for the developer who has a specific need in a targeted ECL specialty area. Each course includes a series of hands-on exercises using concepts and techniques introduced during the class. Each class stands alone, so they may be taken in any order.
Applied ECL – ECL Code Generation Tools
Course Length: 2 days
Class Prerequisites: Students must have completed the Advanced ECL (Part 1) Training course. Students are welcome to bring their own laptops to take away the code and examples from the class.
Topics include:
- Creating and using MACROs
- ECL’s Template Language
- Automating Processes
This class is for developers who want to extend their knowledge of ECL to use the ECL code generation tools to automate operational tasks.
Visit the Training page for more information and registration.
Applied ECL: Special Projects
Class Prerequisites: Students must have completed all courses in the Thor and ROXIE Developer tracks.
Includes:
- One real-world project proposed by the student(s) and agreed to by the Instructor.
- Mentoring at every step, with guidance from project planning through completion.
- Regularly scheduled remote (Teams/Webex) meetings.
- Code Review
- Progress Evaluation
This class helps developers level up their skills from Student ECL Coder to Journeyman ECL Coder through a supervised real-world project.