Befriending Pandas - I

pandas is an open source, BSD-licensed library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python programming language.

Why this kung fu? #

Some Kung fu this is gonna be. I promised a friend I will write about Pandas. So that people like her, who gracefully accept their noviceness(no experience in programming, or no experience in statistics), will be able to understand, grasp and wield pandas.

Some hair has fallen off since I have made that promise, just scratching and thinking how the hell to start and where the hell to start. Finally said to myself, I will start writing and see where that takes me. So here I am doing kung fu with my alter ego, the novice.

Eats Shoots and Leaves #

The key aspect of all this starts from the very beginning, your data. It is absolutely imperative to have some kind of data to work on. And it’s absolutely essential that you understand this data.

This, I guess, has nothing to do with programming, and has nothing do to with statistics(as yet). So make sure you have your data. And since I cannot see yours I have my own: The Bamboo Shoot Heights. What better data could I find for pandas to munch on?

I would disclaim here, that though this is not the best data, but this is a good thing as an introductory diet for pandas. Isn’t that cute?

Slither a Bit #

Try moving without any limbs, it’s impossible but to slither. Its best left to snakes to do that, thats why we take help of two huge ones to wield pandas. These are Python and Anaconda.

Python is the programming language and Anaconda is a set of tools for data analysis, pandas included, with Python bundle. So if you get and install Anaconda, you have got it all to get started.

So next up is petting Anaconda to work for you.