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This documentation is for Apache Flink version {{ site.version_title }}. These pages were built at: {% build_time %}.

Apache Flink is an open source platform for distributed stream and batch data processing. Flink’s core is a streaming dataflow engine that provides data distribution, communication, and fault tolerance for distributed computations over data streams. Flink builds batch processing on top of the streaming engine, overlaying native iteration support, managed memory, and program optimization.

## First Steps

* **Code Walkthroughs**: Follow step-by-step guides and implement a simple application or query in one of Flink's APIs. 
  * [Implement a DataStream application](./getting-started/walkthroughs/datastream_api.html)
  * [Write a Table API query](./getting-started/walkthroughs/table_api.html)

* **Docker Playgrounds**: Set up a sandboxed Flink environment in just a few minutes to explore and play with Flink.
  * [Run and manage Flink streaming applications](./getting-started/docker-playgrounds/flink-operations-playground.html)

* **Tutorials**: Install Flink on your local machine.
  * [Setup a local Flink cluster](./getting-started/tutorials/local_setup.html)

* **Concepts**: Learn about Flink's basic concepts to better understand the documentation.
  * [Dataflow Programming Model](concepts/programming-model.html)
  * [Distributed Runtime](concepts/runtime.html)
  * [Glossary](concepts/glossary.html)

## API References

The API references list and explain all features of Flink's APIs.

* [Basic API Concepts](dev/api_concepts.html)
* [DataStream API](dev/datastream_api.html)
* [DataSet API](dev/batch/index.html)
* [Table API &amp; SQL](dev/table/index.html)

## Deployment

Before putting your Flink job into production, read the [Production Readiness Checklist](ops/production_ready.html).

## Release Notes

Release notes cover important changes between Flink versions. Please carefully read these notes if you plan to upgrade your Flink setup to a later version. 

* [Release notes for Flink 1.10](release-notes/flink-1.10.html).
* [Release notes for Flink 1.9](release-notes/flink-1.9.html).
* [Release notes for Flink 1.8](release-notes/flink-1.8.html).
* [Release notes for Flink 1.7](release-notes/flink-1.7.html).
* [Release notes for Flink 1.6](release-notes/flink-1.6.html).
* [Release notes for Flink 1.5](release-notes/flink-1.5.html).

## External Resources

- **Flink Forward**: Talks from past conferences are available at the [Flink Forward](http://flink-forward.org/) website and on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8_lgiZLZErZPF47a2hXMA). [Robust Stream Processing with Apache Flink](http://2016.flink-forward.org/kb_sessions/robust-stream-processing-with-apache-flink/) is a good place to start.

- **Training**: The [training materials](https://training.ververica.com/) from Ververica include slides, exercises, and sample solutions.

- **Blogs**: The [Apache Flink](https://flink.apache.org/blog/) and [Ververica](https://www.ververica.com/blog) blogs publish frequent, in-depth technical articles about Flink.