This is so true for me as well. I actually use more SQL, Bash, and even MS Access DBs and Excel pivots connecting to text files to get the data in the right, a

This is so true for me as well. I actually use more SQL, Bash, and even MS Access DBs and Excel pivots connecting to text files to get the data in the right, aggregated shape first. Then I load into R or Python as you say so I can work with the data in memory.