What is a Data Lake in Simple Terms
What is a Data Lake in Simple Terms A Data Lake is a storage system where you can keep data in its raw format: structured (like database tables), semi-structured (JSON, XML), and even unstructured (logs, videos, images). The main idea is: you don’t need to clean and organize data upfront. You store everything “as is,” and later, when you analyze it, you apply structure and rules as needed. Data Lake vs Data Warehouse Data Warehouse (DWH) — data is cleaned and transformed before storage (ETL). Data Lake — raw data is stored first, and structure is applied later (ELT). Think of it this way: ...