In this chapter, we will explore another data analysis library called pandas. The goal of this chapter is to give you some basic knowledge and concrete examples for getting started with pandas.
pandas is a Python package that supports fast, flexible, and expressive data structures, as well as computing functions for data analysis. The following are some prominent features that pandas supports:
Related to pandas installation, we recommend an easy way, that is to install it as a part of Anaconda, a cross-platform distribution for data analysis and scientific computing. You can refer to the reference at http://docs.continuum.io/anaconda/ to download and install the library.
After installation, we can use it like other Python packages. Firstly, we have to import the following packages at the beginning of the program:
>>> import pandas as pd >>> import numpy as np