SQL Server 2017 makes Python a first-class citizen for analytics

Microsoft’s push on the analytics front continued this week as the company rolled out a “go-live” preview version…

of SQL Server 2017 accompanied by an updated version of its R programming services and a new Python language interface.

The moves are intended to extend SQL Server’s use in analytics, especially advanced predictive analytics employing machine learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The release — originally referred to as SQL Server vNext before formally being dubbed SQL Server 2017 this week — has many other features, including elements that improve IT shops’ abilities to move databases to the cloud and back again. Not incidentally, SQL Server 2017 will be the first version of the software to run on Linux, as well as Windows. It also supports Docker containers.

With the Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2.0 update of SQL Server 2017, Microsoft’s data management platform includes in-database support for Python, a language that finds wide use in machine learning. A renamed Microsoft Machine Learning Services component enables Python to run directly on the database server, or along with embedded T-SQL scripts.

“Today, it’s either Python or R for advanced analytics,” said Warner Chaves, a principal consultant for SQL Server at The Pythian Group Inc. and a Microsoft MVP. “Microsoft realizes it can’t freeze out Python.”

He said it is very common today for people to use R for experiments or personal prototypes. But many people will move that work to Python when it is time to go into production for operations.

News of in-database Python library support shows some bet hedging by Microsoft. Its biggest analytical language bet to date has been on R, which has grown in use in recent years among data scientists and statisticians working on analytics.

Hedging is a realistic approach for the company to take, according to Chaves, because Python finds as much use as R when it comes to analytics these days.

R Services for SQL Server 2016 has also become part of Microsoft Machine Learning Services in SQL Server 2017 CTP 2.0, encompassing both R and Python libraries. The R focus at the company has been considerable, beginning with the company’s 2015 acquisition of distributed R server maker Revolution Analytics. But Microsoft also began to bring Python into the fold that same year to help power the Spark analytical processing engine as part of its cloud-based Azure HDInsight big data platform. The story is more complete now. Python is not an outsider. In 2015, the company turned to Python specialist Continuum Analytics and its Python distribution, to broaden the developer tool set for AI on Azure. Both R and Python on SQL Server 2017 can be used to run AI jobs in the database using NVIDIA GPUs for acceleration, according to Microsoft. Python as part of SQL Server could help it reach a yet wider audience. “The story is more complete now, Chavez said. “Python is not an outsider.”

Microsoft has worked to enhance its R capabilities as well.