Using Apache Mahout with Ruby on Rails

Question

I have a ruby on rails application. I have the idea of implementing recommendations in the application. I came to know about Apache Mahout through stackoverflow. Now, If I have to use Mahout, what are the stuff that I have to do. Since it is a Java library, I am not clearly sure how to use it in an Ruby on Rails application. I have a couple of certifications in Java, so coding in Java is not an issue. I also have the idea of hosting the application in Heroku, would that be an issue?

Thanks

Answer 1

The recommender portion actually began life as a separate project which had nothing to do with Hadoop. It is still alive an well in Mahout. Look at everything under org.apache.mahout.cf.taste except what's in .hadoop. This is the non-distributed, non-Hadoop code. You can create a Recommender using this code, and have the framework wrap it in a ready-to-deploy .war file which exposes the recommender as a web service, via JWS.

This is the key documentation: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAHOUT/Recommender+Documentation

You might also be interested in the book Mahout in Action.