Week 2: Dataframe Basics

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, students will be able to:

• Create and inspect a pandas DataFrame from various sources
• Select, filter, and slice rows and columns using .loc and .iloc
• Understand the difference between a Series and a DataFrame
• Sort, rename, and perform basic operations on tabular data

Perspectival Reading

Reading: TBD

Reflection Questions

1. The DataFrame abstracts away the messiness of real data — what gets hidden in that abstraction?
2. Who decides what a “row” and a “column” represent, and what is at stake in that choice?
3. Data types encode assumptions about the world. What happens when reality doesn’t fit the available types?

Slides

View slides

Notebook Demo

Open in Google Colab (link TBD)

Lab Assignment

Week 2 Lab — GitHub Classroom (link TBD)