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The question you're asking is really about the Pandas library and its API, not so much about Python the language as such. Python objects can have both callable
by ForHackernews 8y ago
The question you're asking is really about the Pandas library and its API, not so much about Python the language as such.
Python objects can have both callable methods (e.g. mean()) and properties/attributes that don't need an explicit call (e.g. mean). For whatever reason, it looks like Pandas' describe() method returns a result with a different interface when called with an argument than without one.
- danso 8y agoMy first thought exactly. Pandas API is complicated enough that it requires a good grasp of Python in general to be able to tell what is regular Python, and what is the convoluted convention that Pandas uses to achieve its ends. This is not a criticism of pandas -- I think it extremely very well in being an R-like data analysis framework given the limitations/features of the Python syntax. But learning it before being confident with Python is like learning Ruby at the same time as learning Ruby on Rails.