Deep Learning for Finance

Chapter 6. Introductory Python for Data Science

This is the final chapter before we dive into the realm of machine and deep learning. This chapter is optional for experienced Python developers but is important for anyone without a solid programming background. Understanding the intuition behind the algorithms is a great advantage, but that knowledge will not get you far if you fail to properly implement the algorithms. After all, these algorithms need to be coded to work and do not function manually, so you need to understand the basic syntax and how to manipulate and transform data.

As the book is not meant to be an A–Z guide to programming in Python, this chapter only focuses on some of the essentials and a few additional techniques that should help you smoothly navigate the subsequent chapters.

Downloading Python

Code is defined as a set of instructions designed to be executed by a computer. Generally, specific syntax is required so that the computer applies the set of instructions without errors. There are many coding languages, and they are divided into two broad categories:

Low-level coding languages

These are machine languages usually used to write operating systems and firmware. They are very difficult to read. These languages have a sizable level of control over hardware. Assembly language is an example of a low-level language.

High-level coding languages

These are user-friendly languages (with a high level of abstraction). They are generally used to code programs ...