About agate

Why agate?

• A readable and user-friendly API.

• A complete set of SQL-like operations.

• Unicode support everywhere.

• Decimal precision everywhere.

• Exhaustive user documentation.

• Pluggable extensions that add SQL integration, Excel support, and more.

• Designed with iPython, Jupyter and atom/hydrogen in mind.

• Pure Python. No C dependencies to compile.

• Exhaustive test coverage.

• MIT licensed and free for all purposes.

• Zealously zen.

• Made with love.

Principles

agate is a intended to fill a very particular programming niche. It should not be allowed to become as complex as numpy or pandas. Please bear in mind the following principles when considering a new feature:

• Humans have less time than computers. Optimize for humans.

• Most datasets are small. Don’t optimize for “big data”.

• Text is data. It must always be a first-class citizen.

• Python gets it right. Make it work like Python does.

• Humans lives are nasty, brutish and short. Make it easy.

• Mutability leads to confusion. Processes that alter data must create new copies.

• Extensions are the way. Don’t add it to core unless everybody needs it.