Python for Finance: Analyze Big Financial Data

Code browser

Browsing of classes and functions

Project management

Defining and managing projects; generating to-do lists

Instant code checking

Getting errors and warnings on the fly (by using pyflakes, cf.

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes)

Debugging

Setting breakpoints and conditional breakpoints to use with the Python debugger pdb

(cf. http://docs.python.org/2/library/pdb.html)

In addition, Spyder provides further helpful functionality:

Consoles

Open multiple Python and IPython consoles with separate processes each; run the

code from the active editor tab (or parts of it) in a console

Variable explorer

Edit and compare variables and arrays; generate 2D plots of arrays on the fly; inspect

variables while debugging

Object inspector

Display documentation strings interactively; automatically render, for example, rich

text formatting

Other features

History log; array editor similar to a spreadsheet; direct access to online help;

management and exploration of whole projects; syntax and code checking via

Pylint.

Figure 2-6 provides a screenshot of Spyder showing the text editor (on the left), the

variable inspector (upper right), and an active Python console (lower right). Spyder is a

good choice to start with Python programming, especially for those who are used, for

example, to such environments as those provided by Matlab or R. However, advanced

programmers will also find a lot of helpful development functionality under a single roof.