diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index 3e6addeaf04a..f3c31f55a8df 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -1340,6 +1340,10 @@ object SparkContext extends Logging {
   implicit def numericRDDToDoubleRDDFunctions[T](rdd: RDD[T])(implicit num: Numeric[T]) =
     new DoubleRDDFunctions(rdd.map(x => num.toDouble(x)))
 
+  implicit def rddToPromiseRDDFunctions[T: ClassTag](rdd: RDD[T]) = new PromiseRDDFunctions(rdd)
+
+  implicit def rddToDropRDDFunctions[T: ClassTag](rdd: RDD[T]) = new DropRDDFunctions(rdd)
+
   // Implicit conversions to common Writable types, for saveAsSequenceFile
 
   implicit def intToIntWritable(i: Int) = new IntWritable(i)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctions.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctions.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..48aa17999ce2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctions.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.rdd
+
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkContext, Logging, Partition, TaskContext}
+import org.apache.spark.{Dependency, NarrowDependency, OneToOneDependency}
+
+import org.apache.spark.SparkContext.rddToPromiseRDDFunctions
+
+
+private [spark]
+class FanInDep[T: ClassTag](rdd: RDD[T]) extends NarrowDependency[T](rdd) {
+  // Assuming parent RDD type having only one partition
+  override def getParents(pid: Int) = List(0)
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Extra functions available on RDDs for providing the RDD analogs of Scala drop,
+ * dropRight and dropWhile, which return an RDD as a result
+ */
+class DropRDDFunctions[T : ClassTag](self: RDD[T]) extends Logging with Serializable {
+
+  /**
+   * Return a new RDD formed by dropping the first (n) elements of the input RDD
+   */
+  def drop(n: Int):RDD[T] = {
+    if (n <= 0) return self
+
+    // locate partition that includes the nth element
+    val locate = (partitions: Array[Partition], parent: RDD[T], ctx: TaskContext) => {
+      var rem = n
+      var p = 0
+      var np = 0
+      while (rem > 0  &&  p < partitions.length) {
+        np = parent.iterator(partitions(p), ctx).length
+        rem -= np
+        p += 1
+      }
+
+      if (rem > 0  ||  (rem == 0  &&  p >= partitions.length)) {
+        // all elements were dropped
+        (p, 0)
+      } else {
+        // (if we get here, note that rem <= 0)
+        (p - 1, np + rem)
+      }
+    }
+
+    val locRDD = self.promiseFromPartitionArray(locate)
+
+    new RDD[T](self.context, List(new OneToOneDependency(self), new FanInDep(locRDD))) {
+      override def getPartitions: Array[Partition] = 
+        self.partitions.map(p => new PromiseArgPartition(p, List(locRDD)))
+
+      override val partitioner = self.partitioner
+
+      override def compute(split: Partition, ctx: TaskContext):Iterator[T] = {
+        val dp = split.asInstanceOf[PromiseArgPartition]
+        val (pFirst, pDrop) = dp.arg[(Int,Int)](0, ctx)
+        val parent = firstParent[T]
+        if (dp.index > pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx)
+        if (dp.index == pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx).drop(pDrop)
+        Iterator.empty
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+
+  /**
+   * Return a new RDD formed by dropping the last (n) elements of the input RDD
+   */
+  def dropRight(n: Int):RDD[T] = {
+    if (n <= 0) return self
+
+    val locate = (partitions: Array[Partition], parent: RDD[T], ctx: TaskContext) => {
+      var rem = n
+      var p = partitions.length-1
+      var np = 0
+      while (rem > 0  &&  p >= 0) {
+        np = parent.iterator(partitions(p), ctx).length
+        rem -= np
+        p -= 1
+      }
+
+      if (rem > 0  ||  (rem == 0  &&  p < 0)) {
+        // all elements were dropped
+        (p, 0)
+      } else {
+        // (if we get here, note that rem <= 0)
+        (p + 1, -rem)
+      }
+    }
+
+    val locRDD = self.promiseFromPartitionArray(locate)
+
+    new RDD[T](self.context, List(new OneToOneDependency(self), new FanInDep(locRDD))) {
+      override def getPartitions: Array[Partition] = 
+        self.partitions.map(p => new PromiseArgPartition(p, List(locRDD)))
+
+      override val partitioner = self.partitioner
+
+      override def compute(split: Partition, ctx: TaskContext):Iterator[T] = {
+        val dp = split.asInstanceOf[PromiseArgPartition]
+        val (pFirst, pTake) = dp.arg[(Int,Int)](0, ctx)
+        val parent = firstParent[T]
+        if (dp.index < pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx)
+        if (dp.index == pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx).take(pTake)
+        Iterator.empty
+      }
+    }
+  }  
+
+
+  /**
+   * Return a new RDD formed by dropping leading elements until predicate function (f) returns false
+   */
+  def dropWhile(f: T=>Boolean):RDD[T] = {
+
+    val locate = (partitions: Array[Partition], parent: RDD[T], ctx: TaskContext) => {
+      var p = 0
+      var np = 0
+      while (np <= 0  &&  p < partitions.length) {
+        np = parent.iterator(partitions(p), ctx).dropWhile(f).length
+        p += 1
+      }
+
+      if (np <= 0  &&  p >= partitions.length) {
+        // all elements were dropped
+        p
+      } else {
+        p - 1
+      }
+    }
+
+    val locRDD = self.promiseFromPartitionArray(locate)
+
+    new RDD[T](self) {
+      override def getPartitions: Array[Partition] = 
+        self.partitions.map(p => new PromiseArgPartition(p, List(locRDD)))
+
+      override val partitioner = self.partitioner
+
+      override def compute(split: Partition, ctx: TaskContext):Iterator[T] = {
+        val dp = split.asInstanceOf[PromiseArgPartition]
+        val pFirst = dp.arg[Int](0, ctx)
+        val parent = firstParent[T]
+        if (dp.index > pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx)
+        if (dp.index == pFirst) return parent.iterator(dp.partition, ctx).dropWhile(f)
+        Iterator.empty
+      }
+    }    
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctions.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctions.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1c2f7c2139ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctions.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.rdd
+
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
+import org.apache.spark.{SparkContext, Logging, Partition, TaskContext, 
+                         Dependency, NarrowDependency}
+
+
+private [spark]
+class FanOutDep[T: ClassTag](rdd: RDD[T]) extends NarrowDependency[T](rdd) {
+  // Assuming child RDD type having only one partition
+  override def getParents(pid: Int) = (0 until rdd.partitions.length)
+}
+
+
+private [spark]
+class PromisePartition extends Partition {
+  // A PromiseRDD has exactly one partition, by construction:
+  override def index = 0
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * A way to represent the concept of a promised expression as an RDD, so that it
+ * can operate naturally inside the lazy-transform formalism
+ */
+private [spark]
+class PromiseRDD[V: ClassTag](expr: => (TaskContext => V),
+                              context: SparkContext, deps: Seq[Dependency[_]])
+  extends RDD[V](context, deps) {
+
+  // This RDD has exactly one partition by definition, since it will contain
+  // a single row holding the 'promised' result of evaluating 'expr' 
+  override def getPartitions = Array(new PromisePartition)
+
+  // compute evaluates 'expr', yielding an iterator over a sequence of length 1:
+  override def compute(p: Partition, ctx: TaskContext) = List(expr(ctx)).iterator
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * A partition that augments a standard RDD partition with a list of PromiseRDD arguments,
+ * so that they are available at partition compute time
+ */
+private [spark]
+class PromiseArgPartition(p: Partition, argv: Seq[PromiseRDD[_]]) extends Partition {
+  override def index = p.index
+
+  /**
+   * obtain the underlying partition
+   */
+  def partition: Partition = p
+
+  /**
+   * Compute the nth PromiseRDD argument's expression and return its value
+   * The return type V must be provided explicitly, and be compatible with the
+   * actual type of the PromiseRDD.
+   */
+  def arg[V](n: Int, ctx: TaskContext): V = 
+    argv(n).iterator(new PromisePartition, ctx).next.asInstanceOf[V]
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Extra functions available on RDDs for providing the RDD analogs of Scala drop,
+ * dropRight and dropWhile, which return an RDD as a result
+ */
+class PromiseRDDFunctions[T : ClassTag](self: RDD[T]) extends Logging with Serializable {
+
+  /**
+   * Return a PromiseRDD by applying function 'f' to the partitions of this RDD
+   */
+  def promiseFromPartitions[V: ClassTag](f: Seq[Iterator[T]] => V): PromiseRDD[V] = {
+    val rdd = self
+    val plist = rdd.partitions
+    val expr = (ctx: TaskContext) => f(plist.map(s => rdd.iterator(s, ctx)))
+    new PromiseRDD[V](expr, rdd.context, List(new FanOutDep(rdd))) 
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return a PromiseRDD by applying function 'f' to a partition array.
+   * This can allow improved efficiency over promiseFromPartitions(), as it does not force
+   * call to iterator() method over entire partition list, if 'f' does not require it
+   */
+  private [spark]
+  def promiseFromPartitionArray[V: ClassTag](f: (Array[Partition], 
+                                             RDD[T], TaskContext) => V): PromiseRDD[V] = {
+    val rdd = self
+    val plist = rdd.partitions
+    val expr = (ctx: TaskContext) => f(plist, rdd, ctx)
+    new PromiseRDD[V](expr, rdd.context, List(new FanOutDep(rdd))) 
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctionsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1ad05ce8f538
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/DropRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.rdd
+
+import org.scalatest.FunSuite
+
+import org.apache.spark._
+import org.apache.spark.SparkContext._
+import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
+
+class DropRDDFunctionsSuite extends FunSuite with SharedSparkContext {
+
+  test("drop") {
+    val rdd = sc.makeRDD(Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), 2)
+    assert(rdd.drop(0).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(1).collect() === Array(2, 3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(2).collect() === Array(3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(3).collect() === Array(4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(4).collect() === Array(5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(5).collect() === Array(6))
+    assert(rdd.drop(6).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.drop(7).collect() === Array())
+  }
+
+  test("dropRight") {
+    val rdd = sc.makeRDD(Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), 2)
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(0).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(1).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(2).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3, 4))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(3).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(4).collect() === Array(1, 2))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(5).collect() === Array(1))
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(6).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(7).collect() === Array())
+  }
+
+  test("dropWhile") {
+    val rdd = sc.makeRDD(Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), 2)
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 0).collect() === Array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 1).collect() === Array(2, 3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 2).collect() === Array(3, 4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 3).collect() === Array(4, 5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 4).collect() === Array(5, 6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 5).collect() === Array(6))
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 6).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile(_ <= 7).collect() === Array())
+  }
+
+  test("empty input RDD") {
+    val rdd = sc.emptyRDD[Int]
+
+    assert(rdd.drop(0).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.drop(1).collect() === Array())
+
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(0).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.dropRight(1).collect() === Array())
+
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile((x:Int)=>false).collect() === Array())
+    assert(rdd.dropWhile((x:Int)=>true).collect() === Array())
+  }
+
+  test("filtered and unioned input") {
+    val consecutive = sc.makeRDD(Array(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), 3)
+    val rdd0 = consecutive.filter((x:Int)=>(x % 3)==0)
+    val rdd1 = consecutive.filter((x:Int)=>(x % 3)==1)
+    val rdd2 = consecutive.filter((x:Int)=>(x % 3)==2)
+
+    // input RDD:  0, 3, 6, 1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8
+    assert((rdd0 ++ rdd1 ++ rdd2).drop(6).collect() === Array(2, 5, 8))
+    assert((rdd0 ++ rdd1 ++ rdd2).dropRight(6).collect() === Array(0, 3, 6))
+    assert((rdd0 ++ rdd1 ++ rdd2).dropWhile(_ < 7).collect() === Array(7, 2, 5, 8))
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctionsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d454a0539fc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/PromiseRDDFunctionsSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.rdd
+
+import org.scalatest.FunSuite
+
+import org.apache.spark._
+import org.apache.spark.SparkContext._
+import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
+
+class PromiseRDDFunctionsSuite extends FunSuite with SharedSparkContext {
+
+  test("simple promise") {
+    // a promise RDD having no RDD dependencies
+    val rdd = new PromiseRDD((ctx: TaskContext) => 42, sc, Nil)
+    assert(rdd.collect() === Array(42))
+  }
+
+  test("promise a sum") {
+    val data = sc.parallelize(Array(1, 2, 3))
+    val rdd = data.promiseFromPartitions((s:Seq[Iterator[Int]]) => s.map(_.sum).sum)
+    assert(rdd.collect() === Array(6))
+  }
+}