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Whenever I decided to start my journey in data analysis, my first programming language that I chose was Python. My approach was very simple: have good knowledge of Python and then get into R.
This article does not compare or discuss the differences between Python and R. I express my personal thoughts on why I believe Python to be the appropriate choice for beginners in data analysis.
As much as I hated making a decision, in this case between Python and R, I still chose Python simply because I was already familiar with the basic syntax of Python. Having done some small projects earlier using Python also gave me more comfort in working with it first.
Data analysis libraries in Python and R are indeed extremely powerful. To illustrate, R has the dplyr, tidyr, and ggplot2 packages, while in Python, pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, and many others are available. Both languages are easy to start with and hence beginner-friendly.
If you’re at the starting stage of your Data Analysis or Data Science journey, my advice is to choose Python-even though you have no specific reason for doing so and prefer R over Python. Stop worrying about whether R is better than Python, or which one should you choose. Go with Python and later, once you get comfortable with it, then you can be on with R as well. Start and do…
