Harish Garg - Mastering Exploratory Analysis with Pandas

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Harish Garg is a data analyst, author, and software developer who is really passionate about data science and Python. He is a graduate of Udacity's Data Analyst Nanodegree program. He has 17 years of industry experience in data analysis using Python, developing and testing enterprise and consumer software, managing projects and software teams, and creating training material and tutorials. He also worked for 11 years for Intel Security (previously McAfee, Inc.). He regularly contributes articles and tutorials on data analysis and Python. He is also active in the open data community and is a contributing member of the Data4Democracy open data initiative. He has written data analysis pieces for the Takshashila think tank.

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In this book, you will be learning in depth about pandas, which is a Python library for manipulating, transforming, and analyzing data. It is a popular framework for exploratory data visualization, which is a method for analyzing datasets and data pipelines based on their properties.

This book will be your practical guide to exploring datasets using pandas. You will start by setting up Python, pandas, and Jupyter Notebooks. You will learn how to use Jupyter Notebooks to run Python code. We will then show you how to get data into pandas and perform some exploratory analysis. You will learn how to manipulate and reshape data using pandas methods. You will also learn how to deal with missing data from your datasets, how to draw charts and plots using pandas and Matplotlib, and how to create some effective visualizations for your audience. Finally, we will wrap up your newly gained pandas knowledge by teaching you how to get data out of pandas and into a number of popular file formats.

This book is for the budding data scientist looking to learn about the popular pandas library, or the Python developer looking to step into the world of data analysisif you fall into either of those categories, then this book is the ideal resource for you to get started.

, Working with Different Kinds of Datasets , teaches you about u sing advanced options when reading data from CSV files and Excel files.

, Data Selection , looks at how to use the pandas series data structure to select data. You will also learn how to sort and filter data from pandas DataFrames and how to change datatypes in pandas series.

, Manipulating, Transforming, and Reshaping Data , explores how to modify pandas DataFrames. You will also learn how to use the GroupBy method, how to handle missing values, and how to index methods in pandas DataFrames. This chapter will also teach you how to work with dates and time data and how to apply functions to pandas series or DataFrames.

, Visualizing Data Like a Pro , will show you how to c ontrol plot aesthetics, including how to choose colors for plots. You will also learn how to plot categorical data and get to grips with plotting with data-aware grids.

Some programming experience in Python would help you get the most out of this course.

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