Book Image

Learn Python by Building Data Science Applications

By : Philipp Kats, David Katz
Book Image

Learn Python by Building Data Science Applications

By: Philipp Kats, David Katz

Overview of this book

Python is the most widely used programming language for building data science applications. Complete with step-by-step instructions, this book contains easy-to-follow tutorials to help you learn Python and develop real-world data science projects. The “secret sauce” of the book is its curated list of topics and solutions, put together using a range of real-world projects, covering initial data collection, data analysis, and production. This Python book starts by taking you through the basics of programming, right from variables and data types to classes and functions. You’ll learn how to write idiomatic code and test and debug it, and discover how you can create packages or use the range of built-in ones. You’ll also be introduced to the extensive ecosystem of Python data science packages, including NumPy, Pandas, scikit-learn, Altair, and Datashader. Furthermore, you’ll be able to perform data analysis, train models, and interpret and communicate the results. Finally, you’ll get to grips with structuring and scheduling scripts using Luigi and sharing your machine learning models with the world as a microservice. By the end of the book, you’ll have learned not only how to implement Python in data science projects, but also how to maintain and design them to meet high programming standards.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Getting Started with Python
11
Section 2: Hands-On with Data
17
Section 3: Moving to Production

Chapter 2

Why do we need to use variables in code?

Variables work as aliases or symbols in mathematic equations. With variables, we can write business logic, or how, without knowing specific values, or what, beforehand we don't have to repeat doing so over and over again.

What is the recommended way of naming variables? Why does it matter?

There are a few simple requirements when it comes to naming variables that are mandatory—they can't start with a number, contain whitespaces, or special characters. Finally, none of the keywords that are reserved by Python can be used.

That being said, there is some guidance on to better naming; first of all PEP8. According to PEP, it is recommended to name variables meaningfully and consistently so that they are easy to understand. It is also suggested to use "snakecase" (lowercase whitespace represented...