mincemeat.py is a super-lightweight, open source Python implementation of the popular MapReduce distributed computing framework that only depend on the Python Standard Library.

Just install the single source file on a set of machines and invoke the script on them with a password (for authentication) and the IP address of the host and your workers are good to go. Then, using the same package, run simple server program that defines map, reduce and your data source.

While it’s only 350 lines of Python, the package looks great for teaching or experimenting with the MapReduce concept as well as being potentially useful if you work in Python.