Episode 21

Exploring K-means Clustering and Building a Gradebook With Pandas

August 7, 20201h 1m

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (dts.podtrac.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Original episode page

Show Notes

Do you want to learn the how and when of implementing K-means clustering in Python? Would you like to practice your pandas skills with a real-world project? This week on the show, David Amos is back with another batch of PyCoder’s Weekly articles and projects. David talks about a Real Python article about how to perform K-means clustering in Python. We also talk about a new project based article on the site about how to create a gradebook using pandas, practicing the skills of importing, merging, and calculating across groups of data. We cover several other articles and projects from the Python community including: JPEG image decoding, object-oriented development with interfaces and mixins, sparking joy with Python, five package picks from Real Python authors, and more. <div class="alert alert-primary" role="alert"> Course Spotlight: <a href="https://realpython.com/courses/reading-and-writing-csv-files/">Reading and Writing CSV Files</a> This course teaches how to read and write data to CSV files using Python’s built in <code>csv</code> module and the pandas library. You’ll learn how to handle standard and non-standard data such as CSV files without headers, or files containing delimiters in the data. </div> Topics: <ul> <li>00:00:00 – Introduction</li> <li>00:01:34 – Understanding and Decoding a JPEG Image Using Python</li> <li>00:08:41 – K-Means Clustering in Python: A Practical Guide</li> <li>00:12:49 – Pandas Project: Make a Gradebook With Pandas</li> <li>00:17:54 – Video Course Spotlight</li> <li>00:18:53 – Interfaces, Mixins and Building Powerful Custom Data Structures in Python</li> <li>00:32:29 – Sparking Joy With Python</li> <li>00:43:33 – Python Packages: Five Real Python Favorites</li> <li>00:52:15 – zxcvbn-python: Dropbox’s Realistic Password Strength Estimator</li> <li>00:55:43 – Manim: Animation Engine for Explanatory Math Videos</li> <li>01:00:34 – Thanks and Goodbye</li> </ul> Show Links: <a href="https://yasoob.me/posts/understanding-and-writing-jpeg-decoder-in-python/">Understanding and Decoding a JPEG Image Using Python</a> – Learn about the JPEG compression algorithm in this comprehensive guide to decoding JPEGs with Python. <a href="https://realpython.com/k-means-clustering-python/">K-Means Clustering in Python: A Practical Guide</a> – Learn how to perform k-means clustering in Python. You’ll review evaluation metrics for choosing an appropriate number of clusters and build an end-to-end k-means clustering pipeline in <code>scikit-learn</code>. <a href="https://realpython.com/pandas-project-gradebook/">Pandas Project: Make a Gradebook With Pandas</a> – With this follow-along Python project, you’ll build a script to calculate grades for a class using pandas. The script will quickly and accurately calculate grades from a variety of data sources. You’ll see examples of loading, merging, and saving data with pandas, as well as plotting some summary statistics. <a href="https://rednafi.github.io/digressions/python/2020/07/03/python-mixins.html">Interfaces, Mixins and Building Powerful Custom Data Structures in Python</a> – How to supercharge Python’s built-in data structures and build powerful custom data structures with mixin classes. <a href="https://maxwellforbes.com/posts/spark-joy-python-why">Sparking Joy With Python</a> – After a fling with TypeScript, one Python programmer shares some thoughts on keeping the flame alive with Python. <a href="https://realpython.com/python-packages/">Python Packages: Five Real Python Favorites</a> – In this tutorial, several Real Python authors share Python packages we like to use as alternatives to modules in the standard library. You’ll get to know a number of useful packages, including <code>pudb</code>, <code>requests</code>, <code>parse</code>, <code>dateutil</code>, and <code>typer</code>. Projects: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/dwolfhub/zxcvbn-python">zxcvbn-python: Dropbox’s Realistic Password Strength Estimator</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/3b1b/manim">Manim: Animation engine for explanatory math videos</a></li> </ul> Additional Links: <ul> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG">JPEG - Wikipedia article</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr">YCbCr - Wikipedia article</a></li> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/python-type-checking/">Python Type Checking (Guide) - Real Python article</a></li> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/pandas-dataframe/">The Pandas DataFrame: Make Working With Data Delightful - Real Python article</a></li> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/python-interface/">Implementing an Interface in Python - Real Python article</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/">TypeScript: Open-source language which builds on JavaScript</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw">3Blue1Brown - YouTube channel</a></li> <li><a href="https://talkingphysics.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/getting-started-animating-with-manim-and-python-3-7/">Getting Started Animating with manim and Python 3.7</a></li> </ul> Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses: <ul> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/courses/intro-object-oriented-programming-oop-python/">A Conceptual Primer on OOP in Python</a></li> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/courses/reading-and-writing-csv-files/">Reading and Writing CSV Files</a></li> <li><a href="https://realpython.com/courses/idiomatic-pandas-tricks-features-you-may-not-know/">Idiomatic pandas: Tricks & Features You May Not Know</a></li> </ul> <a rel="payment" href="https://realpython.com/join">Support the podcast & join our community of Pythonistas</a>

← All episodes of The Real Python Podcast