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.