Python for Data Science For Dummies

Chapter 11

Understanding the Tools

In This Chapter

Working with the IPython console

Working with IPython Notebook

Interacting with multimedia and graphics

Up to this point, the book spends a lot of time working with Python to perform data science tasks without actually engaging the tools provided by Anaconda much. Yes, a good deal of what you do involves typing in code and seeing what happens. However, if you don’t actually know how to use your tools well, you miss opportunities to perform tasks easier and faster. Automation is an essential part of performing data science tasks in Python.

This chapter is about working with the two main Anaconda tools, IPython console and IPython Notebook. Earlier chapters give you some experience with both tools, but those chapters don’t explore either tool in any detail, and you need to know these tools a lot better for upcoming chapters. The skills you develop in this chapter will help you perform tasks in later chapters with greater speed and far less effort.

The chapter also looks at tasks you can perform with your newfound skills. You develop even more skills as the book progresses, but these tasks help put your new skills into perspective ...