Machine Learning : Introduction To Python

Hi, welcome to the article on Introduction to Python

In the previous article we have learnt about:

1. Explain what data analysis is explain the link between data analysis and ML
2. Explain the types of data analysis
3. Explain the advantages of representing data graphically
4. List and explain major types of graph used for data analysis

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this article you will be able to:

1. List advantages of using Python as a machine learning tool

So we have talked about models, algorithms and data analysis so far. But we haven't talked about the tool which we will be using for analysis or for building machine learning models.

There are a lot of analytical tools available for data analysis. Some of them are freeware and some are paid. There are some tools which require a lot of coding from the data scientist and there are others which require very less human effort.

Developments and enhancements are constantly going on to take up to more Complex data and make the work of data scientist easier.

Some of the commonly used machine learning tools are Python, R, SAS, KNIME, Matlab. Each tool has some advantages and disadvantages which we won't be discussing here. Our focus will be on Python which is one of the most preferred programming languages for data scientists. Python is a versatile language which can be used for developing desktop GUI applications, web applications and of course in machine learning such as face recognition, object detection, sentiment analysis, product recommendation engines etc.

Advantages of Python

Python is preferred over other programming languages because of its several advantages. Let's discuss some of them.

1. It is an object oriented programming language
• Because of which creating and using objects and classes becomes easy.
• For example : A variable with whole number as its value is an object of the integer class.
2. Python can work on different platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi etc.
3. It has a very simple syntax, which is like English language and hence it becomes easier for the programmer to understand and code.
4. The syntax of python allows a programmer to write the codes in very few lines compared to other programs.
5. It runs on an interpreter system that is the code can be executed as soon as it is written and prototyping becomes very quick.
6. Python has a huge collection of standard libraries which is the program and a lot of options to choose from.
• These modules help the programmer to add functionality to the program without writing additional code for it.
• Python has the capability to integrate easily with third-party tools or open source tools without much programming and as a result it becomes cost-effective and time-saving for companies to implement.
• One example of such integration is Pyspark that is integration with Spark.
7. Python is an open source language which makes it affordable for individuals and small companies. Also Python as a good community support where there are a lot of forums, blogs, maintained by the programmers due to which finding help when you get stuck is very very easy.

So that is in this article. In the next article you will learn about Jupyter notebook.

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