Taking care of business, one python script at a time
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
I have heard from various people that my previous articles on common Excel tasks in pandas were useful in helping new pandas users translate Excel processes into equivalent pandas code. This article will continue that tradition by illustrating various pandas indexing examples using Excel’s Filter function as a model for understanding the process.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
I would like to offer this blog as platform for people to share their success stories with python. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had a handful of conversations related to the topic of how to get python implemented in an organization. In these conversations, I have noticed a lot of common themes related to getting the process started and sustaining it over time.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
I have written several times about the usefulness of pandas as a data manipulation/wrangling tool and how it can be used to efficiently move data to and from Excel. There are cases, however, where you need an interactive environment for data analysis and trying to pull that together in pure python, in a user-friendly manner would be difficult. This article will discuss how to use xlwings to tie Excel, Python and pandas together to build a data analysis tool that pulls information from an external database, manipulates it and presents it to the user in a familiar spreadsheet format.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
Pandas includes multiple built in functions such as sum, mean,
max, min, etc. that you can apply to a DataFrame or grouped data.
However, building and using your own function is a good way to learn more about
how pandas works and can increase your productivity with data wrangling and analysis.
The weighted average is a good example use case because it is easy to understand but useful formula
that is not included in pandas. I find that it can be more intuitive than a simple average
when looking at certain collections of data. Building a weighted average function
in pandas is relatively simple but can be incredibly useful when combined with
other pandas functions such as groupby.
This article will discuss the basics of why you might choose to use a weighted average to look at your data then walk through how to build and use this function in pandas. The basic principles shown in this article will be helpful for building more complex analysis in pandas and should also be helpful in understanding how to work with grouped data in pandas.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
As we close out the year, I wanted to take a step back and write a post that will motivate people to learn python and apply it to their daily jobs. Based on some comments I’ve received (and my own personal observations), some people struggle to get started on this journey. They see the potential value of using python in their jobs but are not sure where to start and can not find the time to take the first steps. Closely related to this challenge is finding the perseverance to make it through the inevitable barriers you will encounter. My goal in this article is to provide some items to keep in mind so that you can be successful in your endeavors to learn python and apply it to your job. If you take the time (definitely no easy task) to develop your python skills, you can reap many benefits - outside of the obvious ones you may have started out seeking.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
I have written several articles about using python and pandas to manipulate data and create useful Excel output. In my experience, no matter how strong the python tools are, there are times when you need to rely on Excel as the vehicle to communicate your message or further analyze the data. This article will walk through some additional improvements you can make to your Excel-based output by:
Adding Excel tables with XlsxWriter
Inserting custom VBA into your Excel file
Using COM for merging multiple Excel worksheets
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
As many of you know, pandas released version 0.17.0 on October 9th. In typical pandas fashion there are a bunch of updates, bug fixes and new features which I encourage you to read all about here. I do not plan to go through all of the changes but there are a couple of key things that I think will be useful to me in my daily work that I will explore briefly in this article. In addition, I am including a couple of other tips and tricks for pandas that I use on a frequent basis and hope will be useful to you.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
Using python and pandas in the business world can be a very useful alternative to the pain of manipulating Excel files. While this combination of technologies is powerful, it can be challenging to convince others to use a python script - especially when many may be intimidated by using the command line. In this article I will show an example of how to easily create an end-user-friendly GUI using the Gooey library. This interface is based on wxWindows so it looks like a “native” application on Windows, Mac and Linux. Ultimately, I believe that presenting a simple user interface to your scripts can greatly increase the adoption of python in your place of business.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
Love it or loathe it, PowerPoint is widely used in most business settings. This article will not debate the merits of PowerPoint but will show you how to use python to remove some of the drudgery of PowerPoint by automating the creation of PowerPoint slides using python.
Posted by Chris Moffitt in articles
Over time you have probably developed a set of python scripts that you use on a frequent basis to make your daily work more effective. However, as you start to collect a bunch of python files, the time you take take to manage them can increase greatly. Your once simple development environment can become an unmanageable mess; especially if you do not try to have some consistency and common patterns for your development process. This article will discuss some best practices to manage your python code base so that you can sustain and maintain it over the years without pulling your hair out in the process.
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