Big data is the digital trace that gets generated in today's digital world when we use the internet and other digital technology. Whatever we do digitally leaves a massive volume of data. Interestingly, we can do far smarter analysis with those traces and so, therefore, make smarter decisions and much more. For example, when you log in to any website it shows an advertisement for a product that you searched or browsed earlier, even if it was on an entirely different website. So by showing the product that you are interested in, regardless of the specific product selling site, the results of big data analysis and a smart way of selling means that the end user might like the product and be more likely to buy it.

This chapter intends to introduce readers to the more common big data architectural patterns. Some brief details on the core parts of big data, its core principles, and characteristics are outlined,  including analytics principles, big data workload patterns, and optimal decision-making patterns.

Please be aware that this chapter is a mere introduction to the patterns. Readers need to refer to other materials (references sections) that are available online and offline.