What is the primary reason mentioned for why Python can be challenging for highly concurrent, multithreaded, CPU-bound applications?

Correct answer: The global interpreter lock (GIL).

Explanation

This question tests knowledge of a specific, critical limitation of the standard Python interpreter (CPython) related to parallel processing, a concept important for performance considerations.

Other questions

Question 1

What is the primary focus of the book "Python for Data Analysis" as stated in its introduction?

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT listed as a common form of structured data that the book focuses on?

Question 3

What is the "Two-Language" problem that Python helps solve in data analysis contexts?

Question 5

What is the fundamental N-dimensional array object in NumPy, which serves as a container for large datasets?

Question 6

The name of the pandas library is derived from what two concepts?

Question 7

According to the book, which project was announced in 2014 as a broader initiative to design language-agnostic interactive computing tools, evolving from the IPython web notebook?

Question 8

What is the key distinction between scikit-learn and statsmodels in their approach to modeling?

Question 9

The book recommends using which package manager and community-maintained software distribution for setting up a Python environment?

Question 10

What is the conda command to create a new environment named 'pydata-book' with Python version 3.10?

Question 11

What is the standard import convention for the pandas library, as adopted by the Python community?

Question 12

The text mentions that Python’s improved open source libraries have made it a popular choice for data analysis tasks. Which two libraries are specifically named in this context?

Question 13

What was the primary purpose of the IPython project when it began in 2001?

Question 14

Which SciPy submodule would you use for linear algebra routines and matrix decompositions?

Question 15

When installing packages, what is the recommended practice regarding the use of `conda` and `pip`?

Question 16

Which conference series is described as a worldwide series of regional conferences targeted at data science and data analysis use cases?

Question 17

Why does the author advise against using `from numpy import *`?

Question 18

What are the alternative terms used in the book for "data manipulation"?

Question 19

What technology, provided by libraries like Numba, is mentioned as a way to achieve excellent performance in computational algorithms without leaving the Python programming environment?

Question 20

The DataFrame object in pandas, a primary object used in the book, was named after a similar object in which other programming language?

Question 21

Which of the following IDEs is described in the text as being 'shipped with Anaconda'?

Question 22

Which Python library is described as the 'most popular' for producing plots and other two-dimensional data visualizations and was originally created by John D. Hunter?

Question 23

What is the effect of the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) on Python programs?

Question 24

The book notes that the Jupyter notebook has support for over how many programming languages?

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT listed as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) in Section 1.4?

Question 26

The book states that sometime after its original publication in 2012, people started using what term as an umbrella description for everything from simple descriptive statistics to advanced machine learning?

Question 27

Which library provides high-level data structures like the DataFrame and Series and is a primary focus of the book for data manipulation?

Question 28

The Patsy project, which provides a formula framework inspired by R's formula system, was developed for which statistical analysis package?

Question 29

The book's installation instructions are based on using Python version 3.10. According to the text, what should a reader do if these instructions become out-of-date?

Question 30

What is the standard import convention for the matplotlib.pyplot module?

Question 31

What task category in data analysis is described as 'Applying mathematical and statistical operations to groups of datasets to derive new datasets'?

Question 32

How does the book recommend you download the data for the examples if you cannot access GitHub?

Question 33

What is the primary characteristic of NumPy that makes it highly efficient for numerical computations on large arrays?

Question 34

Which feature of the pandas library is designed to prevent common errors resulting from misaligned data?

Question 35

What does the text mean when it refers to Python as 'Glue' in the context of scientific computing?

Question 36

Which scikit-learn submodule category would be used for models like SVM, nearest neighbors, and random forest?

Question 37

According to the installation instructions, after creating a new conda environment, what is the command to make it the active environment?

Question 38

Which mailing list or Google Group is recommended for questions related to Python for data analysis and pandas?

Question 39

The book uses the Python 3.10 version throughout. If you are reading in the future, what does the author say about installing a newer version of Python?

Question 40

What is the key difference in focus between the book and other books on data science methodologies?

Question 41

In the context of the IPython and Jupyter ecosystem, what is a 'kernel'?

Question 42

Which package is described as a 'collection of packages addressing a number of foundational problems in scientific computing,' containing modules like 'scipy.stats' and 'scipy.optimize'?

Question 43

What is the standard import convention for the statsmodels library?

Question 44

The book mentions that `conda install` should be preferred when using Miniconda. What is the suggested course of action if a `conda install` command fails?

Question 45

What type of data is 'multiple tables of data interrelated by key columns' considered to be in the context of Chapter 1?

Question 46

What is the standard import convention for the seaborn library?

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT listed as a core feature of NumPy in Section 1.3?

Question 48

What is the author's typical development environment, as stated in the section on IDEs?

Question 49

For which operating system does the book's setup guide mention that the installer is a shell script that must be executed in the terminal?

Question 50

What does the book recommend you do before installing the main packages into your new conda environment?