When Excel isn’t enough, it’s time to learn Python.
If you’re comfortable in Excel, but you’ve hit a wall—slow files, broken formulas, hours spent on repetitive tasks—this book offers a way forward. It shows you how to take the work you already do in spreadsheets and make it faster, smarter, and more powerful with Python.
You’ll start by setting up your environment and getting comfortable with Python through short, Excel-inspired exercises. From there, you’ll gradually move into writing scripts that automate manual work, structure your data, and generate consistent results—no prior programming knowledge required.
You’ll use your preexisting Excel skills to learn how to:
Translate spreadsheet logic into Python codeUse pandas to clean, reshape, and filter dataAutomate reports you’d normally build by handRead and write Excel files directly from PythonConnect to databases and APIsCreate professional visualizations with Plotly and DashOrganize code into sharable modules and write simple tests
Throughout the book, you’ll find practical examples that show why and how to move your work out of spreadsheets and into scripts, and how to resolve issues along the way.
Author Tracy Stephens has extensive practical experience with both Excel and Python. Her approach is grounded in real workflows, and she introduces each concept through tasks you’ve likely handled in Excel.
This book won’t ask you to replace everything you do in spreadsheets, but it will help you use Python to work faster, more reliably, and with greater flexibility than you ever could with Excel.
From the Publisher
About the Author
Tracy Stephens is a quantitative developer based in New York City. Her experience includes building systematic trading strategies at some of the world’s top financial institutions. A long-time Python evangelist, she focuses on designing quantitative infrastructure that’s flexible, explainable, and efficient—when she can successfully keep her one-eyed tuxedo cat off her keyboard.
About the Publisher
No Starch Press has published the finest in geek entertainment since 1994, creating both timely and timeless titles like Python Crash Course, Python for Kids, How Linux Works, and Hacking: The Art of Exploitation. An independent, San Francisco-based publishing company, No Starch Press focuses on a curated list of well-crafted books that make a difference. They publish on many topics, including computer programming, cybersecurity, operating systems, and LEGO. The titles have personality, the authors are passionate experts, and all the content goes through extensive editorial and technical reviews. Long known for its fun, fearless approach to technology, No Starch Press has earned wide support from STEM enthusiasts worldwide.
ASIN : B0DQNQLKDL
Publisher : No Starch Press
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : September 23, 2025
Language : English
File size : 19.3 MB
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Not Enabled
Print length : 336 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1718503991
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #689,741 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #68 in Data Mining (Books) #71 in Spreadsheet Books #82 in Spreadsheets (Kindle Store)
Customer Reviews: 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings