Murtaza

OpinionQualitative methods, data manipulation, and media sources — as well as a detailed look into how numbers can liePhoto by Laurenz Kleinheider on UnsplashMuch of the craze behind data science focuses on the glitz and glamor: big data that tracks your every movement, powerful models that predict the the state of the Earth, intelligent systems that can simulate human thought better than we ever thought possible.While these brilliant achievements are indeed a part of data science, they shouldn’t be taken at face value.…

And how to correct yourself before you unintentionally ruin a job interviewPhoto by David Pupaza on UnsplashPython is an excellent language for beginners, but that doesn’t mean there are no mistakes to be made. Especially during the early stages of learning to program, it’s easy to write code that is technically correct, but stylistically poor.If you’re going to learn to code, it’s crucial that you learn to do it well. Be it in academia or industry, the quality of your code matters. It affects not only you, but each and…

Here’s to making this next year productive, satisfying, and all-around beneficial.Photo by Luke Ellis-Craven on UnsplashAh, a new year.An opportunity for growth, development, and advancement. A chance to begin anew — to put away the difficulties of 2022 and cultivate a bright, successful 12 months.And if you’re a data scientist, a chance to continue to develop your skills in this ever-growing and impactful field in an effort to do good in the world. What better resolution could there be than that?Allow me to help you on…

Python provides a host of different methods to work with this common data storage formatPhoto by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashIf you work in tech — especially as a software engineer or data scientist — you’ve probably heard the term JSON thrown around fairly often. In fact, I’d bet that you’ve had to work with it yourself at one point or another.What is JSON Data?JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. Technically, it was derived from a subset of JavaScript focused on arrays and literals by a programmer named Douglas…

It takes a healthy combination of skills to excel in this interdisciplinary fieldPhoto by Yiran Ding on Unsplash“I really want to get into data science.”This is a phrase thrown around pretty loosely these days. Around every corner, there’s another person who emphatically insists that they want to learn the skills necessary to become a data scientist. I admit there is a large demand for this skill set within the current job market, but even then, it feels extensive at times.But hey, I’m game. You want to be a data…

A dive into filtering, manipulating, and functioningPhoto by Milad Fakurian on UnsplashThink back to the last time you worked with a nicely formatted data set. Well-named columns, minimal missing values, and proper organization. It’s a nice feeling — almost freeing — to be blessed with data that you don’t need to clean and transform.Well, it’s nice until you snap out of your daydream and resume tinkering away at the hopeless shamble of broken rows and nonsensical labels in front of you.There’s no such thing as clean data…

Learn the difference between long-form and wide-form data, and how to transition between them in PandasPhoto by David Becker on UnsplashIt’s a well-known fact among data scientists: your data will never be exactly the way you want it. You might get a somewhat organized spreadsheet or reasonable sensible tables, but there will always be some cleaning up to do before you’re ready for analysis.As a result, it’s crucial to be able to transition between different forms of data. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of readability…

Planning out your code matters a lot more than you thinkPhoto by UX Indonesia on UnsplashIf you’re an avid Python user, you may be familiar with the famous poem, “The Zen of Python.” It was written by Tim Peters (one of the original developers of the language), and can be read in its entirety by typing the command import this into the Python interpreter.I won’t inundate you with the whole poem, but if you’re curious you can check out my previous article on the topic.For the purposes of this article, I want to draw your…

Take advantage of easy-to-implement lessons from one of the language’s most knowledgeable expertsPhoto by Campaign Creators on UnsplashYou may not know it, but a Python installation comes with a wonderful and helpful poem, free of charge. To access it, all you need do is type import this into the terminal. You’ll then be greeted with the following:“The Zen of Python, by Tim PetersBeautiful is better than ugly.Explicit is better than implicit.Simple is better than complex.Complex is better than complicated.Flat is better…

One-hot encode, merge, and concatenate: say hello to useful data transformations and funky data combinations.Photo by fabio on UnsplashThis is the third article in my Next-Level Series. Be sure to check out the first two: 3 Underappreciated Skills to Make You a Next-Level Data Scientist and 3 Underappreciated Skills to Make You a Next-Level Python Programmer.It’s no secret that Pandas is a difficult module to learn. It can be confusing and overwhelming — especially for newer programmers. However, it is also incredibly…