Introduction to Python for Data Science

This repository contains the data and code for the short course titled Introduction to Python taught at ASA DataFest 2024 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Installing Python using miniconda

Miniconda is a lightweight distribution of Python and the conda package management system. Visit this link to install miniconda. Select your operating system and follow the instructions.

Installing packages with miniconda

Once you have miniconda installed and the prompt launched, you are ready to install the packages we will need. These packages are

• NumPy (numpy)
• Pandas (pandas)
• Matplotlib (matplotlib)
• Jupyter Lab (jupyterlab)

You can install these in one command by running

conda install -y numpy pandas matplotlib jupyterlab

Launching Jupyter Lab

Once you have the packages above installed, you can launch Jupyter Lab by running the following command in the conda prompt:

jupyter lab

This will open a new browser window with the Jupyter Lab application.

Downloading and Opening the Notebook

Click on the green "Code" button at the top of this page and then click "Download ZIP". Go to your downloads folder and unzip the file. Then either leave the unzipped folder there or move it somewhere else. Either way, navigate to the location of the folder in Jupyter Lab and click on the file Intro-Python.ipynb to open the notebook we will use for the remainder of this short course.