Book excerpt: This book provides you with the skills necessary to get started with Azure Machine Learning to build predictive models as quickly as possible, in a very intuitive way, whether you are completely new to predictive analysis or an existing practitioner. The book starts by exploring ML Studio, the browser-based development environment, and explores the first step—data exploration and visualization. You will then build different predictive models using both supervised and unsupervised algorithms, including a simple recommender system. The focus then shifts to learning how to deploy a model to production and publishing it as an API. The book ends with a couple of case studies using all the concepts and skills you have learned throughout the book to solve real-world problems.