On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Ryan Shuell <ryanshu...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks guys. I just feel frustrated that I can't do something useful. > I'm reading all about dictionaries, and types, and touples. Then I read > about string manipulation and loops; two of my favorite things to do. Then > I read about logic: > -719 >= 833 > False > > That's great, but it's just not very useful for me. I thought I could use > Python to do screen scraping. Right now, I use R to do almost all my screen > scraping. I used to use Excel, but r is just light years easier to use, so > I'll go with that. I thought Python may be even easier to use than R, and > perhaps even more powerful too. However, since I picked up my first Python > book about 3 months ago, I seem to be learning all kinds of useless things, > and no practical things. When I find cool code samples online, I can't even > get them to run. Last week I found a small sample of code that supposedly > merges data from several text files in a folder into one single file. I > played with it for a couple hours, and never got it to work. In less than > 15 minutes, I could have done the merging task, using Excel, Access, VB.NET, > C#.NET, or even a batch file.
So you have a lot of experience with Microsoft world. The Open Source world is a different slant. That might contribute to your frustration. I just looked up R, and I see it is for statistics, which is something you also seem to know about. I think there will come an 'aha' moment when python clicks for you. Or maybe not. Its a very well constructed language. Good luck, though. > > I guess I'll just keep reading these books. I have 10 books, and I'm most > of the way throguh 4 of them. So far, none are teaching me anything that I > could use in my role managing financial assets. Maybe something will click > soon. I hope so. > > Thanks again everyone. > > > On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 10:48 AM, Joel Goldstick <joel.goldst...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> >> On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 10:19 AM, Mark Lawrence <breamore...@yahoo.co.uk> >> wrote: >> > On 18/10/2014 21:00, ryguy7272 wrote: >> >> >> >> I'm trying to install Pandas. I went to this link. >> >> https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pandas/0.14.1/#downloads >> >> >> >> I downloaded this: pandas-0.14.1.win32-py2.7.exe (md5) >> >> I have Python27 installed. >> >> >> >> So, I run the executable and re-run my Python script and I get the same >> >> error as before. >> >> >> >> >> >> Traceback (most recent call last): >> >> File "C:/Python27/stock_data.py", line 3, in <module> >> >> import pandas as pd >> >> ImportError: No module named pandas >> >> >> >> What messages did you get when you run the installer? >> Most people use pip to install python packages >> Are you writing code and putting it in C:/Python27/ ? isn't that where >> python is installed. You should write your code in some directory >> under your user tree. >> >> >> >> I thought I just installed it! Isn't that what the executable is for? >> >> It >> >> seems like 100% of my errors are with uninstalled libraries. I don't >> >> understand why there are so, so, so many dependencies running Python. >> >> Also, >> >> I don't understand why something isn't installed, right after I just >> >> installed it. >> >> >> >> Can someone please explain the logic to me? >> >> >> >> Thanks. >> >> >> > >> > Have you actually run any code from the Python tutorial yet? You can do >> > lots of things with Python that require no third party libraries. In >> > fact >> > many questions here go "I need a solution to this that must be in the >> > stdlib". It strikes me that you're trying to enter an Iron Man >> > competition >> > before you can crawl. >> > >> > -- >> > My fellow Pythonistas, ask not what our language can do for you, ask >> > what you can do for our language. >> > >> > Mark Lawrence >> > >> > -- >> > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list >> >> >> >> -- >> Joel Goldstick >> http://joelgoldstick.com >> -- >> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > > -- Joel Goldstick http://joelgoldstick.com -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
