Data Science For Dummies

Introduction

The power of big data and data science are revolutionizing the world. From the modern business enterprise to the lifestyle choices of today’s digital citizen, data science insights are driving changes and improvements in every arena. Although data science may be a new topic to many, it’s a skill that any individual who wants to stay relevant in her career field and industry needs to know.

Although other books dealing with data science tend to focus heavily on using Microsoft Excel to learn basic data science techniques, Data Science For Dummies goes deeper by introducing Python, the R statistical programming language, D3.js, SQL, Excel, and a whole plethora of open-source applications that you can use to get started in practicing data science. Some books on data science are needlessly wordy, with authors going in circles trying to get to a point. Not so here. Unlike books authored by stuffy-toned, academic types, I’ve written this book in friendly, approachable language — because data science is a friendly and approachable subject!

To be honest, up until now, the data science realm has been dominated by a few select data science wizards who tend to present the topic in a manner that’s unnecessarily over-technical and intimidating. Basic data science isn’t that hard or confusing. Data science is simply the practice of using a set of analytical techniques and methodologies to derive and communicate valuable and actionable insights from raw data. The purpose of data ...