Introduction to Pandas

Learning Objectives

• What is Pandas?

• Why Pandas?

• Why Pandas is so popular?

• Import Pandas in Python

What is Pandas?

• Officially stands for Python Data Analysis Library

• It is an open - source Python library

• It is a tool used by data scientists to:

  • read,

  • write,

  • manipulate, and

  • analyse the data.

Why Pandas?

• It helps you to explore and manipulate data in an efficient manner

• It helps you to analyse large volumes of data with ease. When we say large volumes it is in millions of rows/records.

Why Pandas is so Popular?

• Easy to read and learn

• Extremely fast and powerful

• Integrates well with other visualisation libraries

Importing Pandas

Anytime you want to use a library in Python, your first priority should be to make it accessible.

You can import/load Pandas in your notebook or any other Python IDE in two different ways.

• import pandas

• import pandas as pd

Just as we use the np shorthand for NumPy, we will be using pd shorthand for Pandas. It simply serves as an alias and it is easier to use pd instead writing full form ‘pandas’ while coding.

In this course, we will use import pandas as pd