Introduction to Ibis¶
Ibis is a Python framework to access data and perform analytical computations from different sources, in a standard way.
In a way, you can think of Ibis as writing SQL in Python, with a focus on analytics, more than simply accessing data. And aside from SQL databases, you can use it with other backends, including big data systems.
Why not simply use SQL instead? SQL is great and widely used. However, SQL has different flavors for different database engines, and SQL is very difficult to maintain when your queries are very complex. Ibis solves both problems by standardizing your code across backends and making it maintainable. Since Ibis is Python, you can structure your code in different files, functions, name variables, write tests, etc.
This tutorial will guide you through Ibis features and provide practical examples. Some knowledge of Python is assumed and knowledge of SQL will be helpful but not required.
Ibis is open source - if anything can be improved in this tutorial, or in Ibis itself, please open an issue in the Ibis GitHub repository or open a pull request with the fix.