Data Science ยท Chapter 3 of 43
Types of Data
STRUCTURED data lives in rows and columns (SQL tables). UNSTRUCTURED data is text, images, audio, video. SEMI-STRUCTURED data has some structure (JSON, XML).
Most enterprise data is still structured โ SQL skills matter.
Example 1 (python)
# Structured: pandas DataFrame
import pandas as pd
pd.DataFrame({'name':['A','B'], 'age':[20,25]})Rows and columns.
Example 2 (python)
# Semi-structured: JSON
import json
json.loads('{"user":{"id":1}}')Output
{'user': {'id': 1}}Nested but parseable.
Key points
- Structured = rows/columns.
- Unstructured = text, image, audio.
- Semi-structured = JSON, XML.
- SQL still dominates enterprise data.
๐ก Note: Real projects usually mix all three (e.g. product table + review text + product image).