Further Resources

In this chapter, we’ve covered many of the basics of using Pandas effectively for data analysis. Still, much has been omitted from our discussion. To learn more about Pandas, I recommend the following resources:

• Pandas online documentation: This is the go-to source for complete documentation of the package. While the examples in the documentation tend to be small generated datasets, the description of the options is complete and generally very useful for understanding the use of various functions.
• Python for Data Analysis Written by Wes McKinney (the original creator of Pandas), this book contains much more detail on the Pandas package than we had room for in this chapter. In particular, he takes a deep dive into tools for time series, which were his bread and butter as a financial consultant. The book also has many entertaining examples of applying Pandas to gain insight from real-world datasets. Keep in mind, though, that the book is now several years old, and the Pandas package has quite a few new features that this book does not cover (but be on the lookout for a new edition in 2017).
• Stack Overflow: Pandas has so many users that any question you have has likely been asked and answered on Stack Overflow. Using Pandas is a case where some Google-Fu is your best friend. Simply go to your favorite search engine and type in the question, problem, or error you’re coming across–more than likely you’ll find your answer on a Stack Overflow page.
• Pandas on PyVideo: From PyCon to SciPy to PyData, many conferences have featured tutorials from Pandas developers and power users. The PyCon tutorials in particular tend to be given by very well-vetted presenters.

Using these resources, combined with the walk-through given in this chapter, my hope is that you’ll be poised to use Pandas to tackle any data analysis problem you come across!