To interact with the Python Pandas package, we will use Jupyter Notebook.
A Jupyter notebook is a document that can combine live programming code, text, images, and pretty displays of data all in the same place. While it may seem like Jupyter Notebook is running from a website, it can actually be executed on a local desktop requiring no internet access or can be installed on a remote server and accessed through the internet. Review Short Introduction to Jupyter Notebooks for more details.
Launching Jupyter Notebook
To get started with Jupyter notebook, you must first launch Jupyter Notebook from the “Anaconda Navigator” application on your computer. There are two ways to do this:
Find “Anaconda Navigator” in the applications folder on your computer, and double-click on the app to open it.
Once Anaconda Navigator opens, you can launch Jupyter Notebook by clicking the “Launch” button.
OR, launch Jupyter Notebook from a Terminal or Powershell by running:
jupyter notebookCreating a new Jupyter notebook file
Once you’ve launched Jupyter Notebook, you can create the Jupyter notebook file to run the workshop. From the Jupyter Home Tab in your Browser, find the “pandas_workshop” folder saved on your Desktop, and start a New Python Notebook using the New button in the upper right corner. Running and saving your Jupyter Notebook from the same directory as your file will keep your project organized and will make it easier to read in your files.
Naming your Jupyter notebook file
Even though Jupyter Notebook doesn’t force you to do so, it is very important to name your file, or you will end up later with a bunch of untitled files and you will have no idea what they are about. In the top left, click on the word Untitled and give your file a name such as “intro_pandas”.
