Effective Pandas: Patterns for Data Manipulation (Treading on Python)

Effective Pandas is chock full with no-fluff, get-it-done explanations and advice to help you learn pandas or to level up your existing knowledge and skills.Matt Harrison has done a masterful job putting together an impressive and orderly collection of helpful instructions and meaningful insights on the pandas library. He starts with a peek under the covers, so you get a good understanding of the core pandas objects - Series and DataFrames - and how they work. Every ensuing chapter builds incrementally on that foundation, with clear and pertinent examples throughout. The book is laid out in such a way that topics flow naturally one to the next and are conducive to a read-through for learning the pandas library piece by piece. But it's also organized into bite-size chunks that make it easy to come back to as a reference later when you need that one little piece of information that you can't quite remember.One of the things that I really appreciate about Matt's presentation of pandas topics is that he is not shy, while also not being adamant, about sharing his thoughts on the best ways to do things. His coverage of chaining and the associated benefits to code clarity is a good case in point. Everyone is allowed their opinions, but my opinion is that his opinions on these things is pretty darn close to right.(In fact, I like Effective Pandas so much that I bought it three times - the hard copy on Amazon, a stand-alone digital copy on Matt's web site (store.metasnake.com), and later another digital copy that came bundled with some courses, also from his site. Maybe that last one doesn't completely count...)At any rate, the book is full of helpful content:- Clear explanations and usage examples of a boatload of pandas Series and DataFrame attributes and methods.- Valuable thoughts and suggestions on the best ways to combine pandas operations to be efficient and accurate.- Effective coverage of all pandas table-steaks topics: loading data, filtering, inspecting dataframes, typing, sorting, merging/joining, grouping, aggregating, shaping, melting, plotting, exporting, debugging (and even more).- Tips and insights on things like effectively chaining pandas methods, improving memory usage through manipulation of data types, making sure that appropriate constructs are used for accessing intermediate data frames in chained sequences (see notes on lambda functions in ch 10 and on the differences btw .query / .loc in ch 24, for example), and augmenting performance in some areas with Cython.If you're looking for that one resource that will help you build out your knowledge of pandas, and that you'll go back to again and again, this is it. I highly recommend that you get it now.And, of course, I also recommend checking out Matt's other book and course offerings at store.metasnake.com. There's a lot of good content there around Python and pandas that delivers value at much of the same level as what you'll see in his Effective Pandas book.

Excellent book for all the visualization techniques needed during EDA. I WOULD RECOMMEND ALWAYS

Data Science/Analytics is an interesting world where professionals in this space could have various kinds of backgrounds which can be a mix of folks who are from the traditional software engineering/programming backgrounds to less traditional backgrounds coming from corporate finance, consulting, human resources, etc, who need to get a grasp of working with data via Python.This book does a really good job in breaking down what's the most important concepts to learn based on the author's own working experiences. The biggest problem I sometimes find from other resources online and such is the material being written by programmers/software engineers and it makes no sense to write code in the methods that they have compared to how Pandas-like alternatives are being utilized like SQL and R. The author alludes to this a bit when talking about chaining and how much push-back he gets.It's one of the best technical resources to using Pandas in the most logical and efficient way possible.

Being a developer and teacher myself, when I read a book like this, I like to pay attention and ponder not only the technical matters but the didactical aspects too.Many authors know their stuff, some of them explain it clearly, but few go the extra mile in order to assure the reader understands. What I mean is that most authors try to get their word out, teachers go further and try to make the ideas get in readers' brains.I feel Matt Harrison knows its stuff, but he also cares to teach it. For example: giving real world examples makes it easy to relate to the problem at hand. Short chapters are rightly sized knowledge pills. The summary and exercises at the end of each help to make sure one understands.I feel clarity was in the author's head all the time, and he succeeded. At least for me, Effective Pandas resulted in an easy read, without any major hurdle, covered everything I wanted to learn, and made me like and consider to adopt the chaining style.There isn't a lot more I can ask from a book.

I have used many different tools for data analytics. Minoan, SAS, SPSS, and yes data tools in excel. While all tools have their advantages and disadvantages, pandas are probably the most efficient out of all of them. The author is extremely knowledgeable. The codes are easily to follow. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wish to learn a little bit about pandas and use it to clean data set. Matt is a good writer and teacher. I took a class from him. His class is very informative.

Having read the book and worked through all the exercises I found this book to be very helpful and insightful. A must read for learning data science. Some editing needs to be done other than that a very good book on Pandas.

Effective Pandas is a fantastic resource for any aspiring data analyst. This book dives deep into data manipulation in Python, offering a wealth of knowledge that's both comprehensive and accessible. What I really appreciate about this book is how it cuts straight to the chase, providing relevant examples that you can immediately apply. It's one of the few references available that goes into such depth, making it invaluable for anyone serious about mastering data manipulations with Pandas.

I picked this up to supplement class materials while working on a BS in Data Analytics. This may be the best technical reference I've come across in 30+ years of IT experience. Well worth the money. I do with there was a digital version available, as I prefer ebooks, but will have this on my desk for years to come.

This book is a must if you have been using Pandas (or plan using it). This is the 101 book for anyone using this data science library. I have used Pandas for over 2 years very empirically; after reading this book: I can say that I'm using more efficiently and to a greater extent that most of the people using Pandas. I do not like the old code written by me before reading (and practicing!) this book. I have taught to other co-workers using this book: this book is well organized in chapters with an brief intro, then the functions and at the end some exercises that help the Pandas learner to apply the knowledge. Minor errata in the book, but workable.

You've heard that data processing, machine learning, all takes 80% munging or data cleansing, So doesn't it make sense to get really good at that one activity that takes up most of your time? This book will help you do that. It covers everything in pandas from being memory efficient to using some functions over others. Plotting, string methods, aggregating, data frames themselves versus series, math methods. Looping over data, filtering, plotting, reshaping and pivoting. Everything you really need to know about handling data in an effective and proficient way. Do yourself and your career path a favor, get this book!

The book from Matt Harrison has changed the way how I write pandas. Pandas used to be something that I was not a fan of, but method chaining is a game-changer for me.

Cet ouvrage n'est pas très abordable si on ne maitrise pas un minimum python/jupyer notebook.Il peut paraître un peu sec si c'est la première fois que vous entendez parler de Pandas,Je recommande cet ouvrage comme un complément à un cours d'introduction. Il permet d'approfondir certains points et aborde la bibliothèque d'un point de vue très pratique, ce qui est vraiment appréciable. Par ailleurs, l'auteur insiste sur les bonnes pratiques et sur les meilleures façons d'aborder les problèmes (en termes de temps et d'usage de mémoire par exemple).

One of the best book on the subject I have ever read. Tons of examples and many snippets to boost my own code.