Data Analysis with Polars
The widely used Pandas package is powerful but its API is enormous, inconsistent, and clunky and it is known to be quite slow. The tide has turned and we at Python Charmers believe Polars is now superior to Pandas for most tasks involving dataframes because of its better API, better performance, and better options for cross-language interoperability.
Prerequisites
Proficiency in Python. Proficiency with Pandas is helpful but not required.
Expected Outcomes
This course will teach you about efficiently handling and analyzing large tabular and time-series datasets with Polars.
Course Syllabus
Session 1: Using Polars
Session 1 will give you a crash course on handling and analyzing tabular data
with Polars:
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Introduction to Polars as an alternative to Pandas
- Concepts and philosophy of Polars versus Pandas
- DataFrame structure (vs Pandas DataFrame, dict and array)
- Data types and casting; handling missing data
- Eager vs lazy evaluation
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Useful features of Polars
- Expressions: selecting and filtering data; windows functions; ...
- Handling dates, times, and time-series; resampling
- Data fusion: joining & concatenating datasets
- Summarization with “group by” operations; pivot tables
Session 2: Polars in more depth
This session teaches you more about data analysis with Polars:
- Polars in depth
- The Polars lazy API
- Polars internals: Arrow memory format
- Strings in depth
- Expressions in depth: Structs, user-defined functions, ...
- Speed and memory characteristics of Polars; immutability
- Limitations and differences versus Pandas
- Patterns for working without an index
- Reshaping data: equivalents to Pandas’ stack/unstack/melt; hierarchical indices
Personal help
We are happy to offer on-the-spot problem-solving after each day of the training for you to ask one-on-one questions — whether about the course content and exercises or about specific problems you face in your work and how to solve them. If you would like us to prepare for this in advance, you are welcome to send us background info before the course.
Other information
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Format:
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Courses are conducted online via live video meeting and using Python Charmers' cloud notebook server for sharing code with the trainer(s).
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Computer:
Hardware: we recommend ≥ 8 GB of RAM and a webcam. Preferably also multiple screens and a quiet room (or headset mic).
Software: a modern browser: Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (not IE or Edge); and Zoom.
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Timing:
Most courses will run from 9:00 to roughly 17:00 (AEST) each day, with breaks of 50 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes each for morning and afternoon tea.
Certificate of completion:
We will provide you a certificate if you complete the course and successfully answer the majority of the exercise questions.
Materials:
You will have access to all the course materials via the cloud server. We will also mail you cheat sheets and a USB stick with all the materials for reference.
Upcoming Public Courses
Virtual
Intermediate Geospatial Analysis in Python:
5–7 February 2025
- 05 Feb 2025 22:00 - 06 Feb 2025 06:00 UTC
- 06 Feb 2025 22:00 - 07 Feb 2025 06:00 UTC
Online live instructor-led training: 9am to 5pm AEDT
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Testimonials
“The course was delivered by trainers who were extremely knowledgeable in their field. It was really good to learn from the best!”
“Great course. Enjoyed it and will follow up with some practical implementation of some of the work.”
“One of the best training courses I've been on.”
“I loved it. Ed was inspiring.”
“Really impressed by Python's capability and excited to use as alternative to MatLab, as is free and better supported.”
“Very comprehensive intro to every aspect of python. Highly qualified trainer. Beyond my expectation on every aspect.”
“The VM setup and USB is great. Ed is an excellent instructor - he presents well and welcomes any questions. He is clearly a super smart guy who has a great grasp on what he is teaching - able to just prototype on the fly and the course overall really opened my eyes to python.”
“Course content was well presented and easily digested. Practical exercises were an essential part of the course – a good ratio of lecture/play was achieved. Well done Ed and Henry!”
“Simply awesome!!”
“Both Ed and Henry presented well…. The course structure was adjusted to suit the participants quickly and easily.”
“Excellent training course, excellently presented. Perhaps the best that I have had in the area of IT / programming.”
“One of the best programming courses I have attended - thanks!”
“This course has shown me how I could have done the work I was doing just last week 10x more efficiently in Python.”
“It was a pleasure ... Shared feedback from all involved was that it’s been one of the most beneficial and well delivered training courses we’ve been a part of.”
“Was the most fulfilling and rewarding class I have taken since "general relativity" at uni. Was extremely well run. Excellent all round!”
“Very impressed with the course, delivery. And depth of knowledge of Ed and Henry. Far exceeded my expectations and has greatly improved my core skills as well as inspired so many new ideas for my current work / projects. Thank you!”
