Python for Excel Users

Boost Productivity Without Becoming a Programmer

by Tracy Stephens

Fall 2025, 200 pp.

ISBN-13:

9781718503984

Excel is a mainstay of the modern workplace, but it isn’t up to every task. Python for Excel Users offers a better way, showing how relatively simple programming can greatly boost productivity by streamlining workflows and adding new tools to the reader’s toolbox - no programming experience required. Uses include:

Generating beautiful data visualizations
Creating interactive reports and dashboards
Tracking collaborative projects

This book leverages what readers already know about Excel to introduce useful coding applications. Practical examples illustrate how programming skills can be immediately applied to the reader’s day-to-day work.

Author Bio

Tracy Stephens is a quantitative developer based in New York City. Her experience includes building systematic trading strategies at some of the world’s top financial institutions. A long-time Python evangelist, she focuses on designing quantitative infrastructure that’s flexible, explainable, and efficient---when she can successfully keep her one-eyed tuxedo cat off her keyboard.

Table of contents

Chapter 1: When Is Excel Not Enough?
Chapter 2: Setting Up Your Python Environment
Chapter 3: Python Concepts and Their Excel Equivalents
Chapter 4: Writing Python Scripts
Chapter 5: Version Control with Git
Chapter 6: Coding Interactively with Jupyter Notebooks
Chapter 7: Data Analysis with Pandas
Chapter 8: SQL for the Non-Engineer
Chapter 9: Working with APIs
Chapter 10: Programmatic Charting with Plotly
Chapter 11: Interactive Reports with Dash
Chapter 12: Practical Object-Oriented Programming
Chapter 13: Debugging and Testing Your Code
Chapter 14: Three Habits to Write Good Code

The chapters in red are included in this Early Access PDF.