

Python for Data Analysis - anotherbot
http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2012/10/24/python-for-data-analysis/

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gjm11
Blogspam, copied (without author's permission?) from
[http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2012/10/24/python-for-data-
ana...](http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2012/10/24/python-for-data-analysis/) .
[EDITED to add: actually, it looks like it was with the author's position.
Still blogspam. Incidentally, John Cook's blog is frequently updated and
frequently interesting, at least for anyone with an interest in mathematics
and software.]

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rolux
Given that the posting has risen quite high on the front page, can the link be
changed to the URL of the original?

Not that there was much meat in the article, anyway, but at least the
following is mildly insightful:

 _I prefer Python to R for mathematical computing because mathematical
computing doesn’t exist in a vacuum; there’s always other stuff to do. I find
doing mathematical programming in a general-purpose language is easier than
doing general-purpose programming in a mathematical language._

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brunosan
Instead of following the Amazon link, you can go to O'reilly page and use the
code CFSTNY to get 50% off. (almost no difference with Amazon.com Kindle
version, but you also get the pdf)

<http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023784.do?code=CFSTNY>

~~~
jagatsastry
"You did not meet the criteria for this discount" Know what the reason could
be?

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beagle3
expired at 12pm PDT (3pm EDT)?

or you tried to get anything other than pure PDF (discount does not apply to
dead tree format)

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oracuk
I'm about halfway through this on my Kindle.

I had seen Pandas referenced online and had been meaning to look at it at some
point. Reading this book has forced me to pay attention. The Pandas dataframe
type is well explained here and is now firing my mind, I'm just spinning off
into various applications that hadn't occurred to me before reading this book.

In summary, I would definitely recommend it so far.

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runjake
As others have mentioned, this is blogspam. Also note the submitter's
submission history. Might be time to ban user anotherbot?

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sologoub
all submissions from dzone and no comments... looks like a bot to me.

~~~
anotherbot
Nope, person. Try to only post interesting stuff.

~~~
runjake
Interesting stuff being blogspam adverts from dzone.com? Try again.

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denzil_correa
I personally prefer Python to R for mathematical computing as well. I find it
much more comfortable.

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mynegation
Author, Wes McKinney, is an HN user wesm. Congratulations, Wes!

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elements
This is great; I've been looking forward to this book for a while. I'd
recommend the author's blog, Quant Pythonista
(<http://blog.wesmckinney.com/>), where he posts details of his various
quantitative Python projects. It's great for a beginner such as myself to see
real-world applications outside of my own projects.

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goronbjorn
I read the pre-release version, and it's honestly very, very good. pandas is
_such_ a useful package.

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thronemonkey
Hmmm I use python for most scientific computing applications, but I do a lot
of statistical things in R. I've been interested in trying pandas for a while,
might be time to give it a shot . . .

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vinayak
I have been using Pandas and R for sometime now. I found Pandas is a little
rough and fragile around the edges (for example, it was really hard to figure
out how to get the median of a distribution in a dataframe as compared to R -
fairly basic stuff really). Things do not quite work they way you want them.
As for R inspite of the arcane syntax, the quality and number of packages, the
help and the IDE (rstudio) is really good.

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jmduke
From a novice's perspective, this book is incredible. The fact that it's on
the O'Reilly network (pay once -- get it in any format, DRM-free) is icing on
the cake.

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bduerst
Wait, how have you read this? Amazon is only accepting preorders.

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dekayed
You can order the e-book on O'Reilly's website:

<http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023784.do?code=CFSTNY>

~~~
bduerst
Thanks - ordered.

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danso
I bought this book when it was in beta form. Thanks for reminding me that I
need to update my version. I don't know Python but this book's existence has
piqued my interest into moving into it.

