Software Alternatives & Startups

python xlrd VS NumPy

Compare python xlrd VS NumPy and see what are their differences

python xlrd

Please use openpyxl where you can... Contribute to python-excel/xlrd development by creating an account on GitHub.

Rating
0 reviews
NumPy

NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, NumPy seems to be a lot more popular than python xlrd. While we know about 122 links to NumPy, we've tracked only 2 mentions of python xlrd.

social mentions
2 vs 122
Application Builder popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
12 vs 189

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

python xlrd
NumPy
Website github.com numpy.org
Pricing —
Open source
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

python xlrd 3 features
NumPy 5 features
  • Simplicity
    xlrd provides a straightforward and easy-to-use API for reading Excel files, making it accessible for beginners and quick implementations.
  • Widely Used
    xlrd has been a popular choice for handling Excel files in Python, which means there is a lot of available documentation and community support.
  • Efficient Reading
    It is optimized for reading data from Excel files without loading entire data into memory, which is beneficial for handling large files.

Possible disadvantages

  • No Write Support
    xlrd is designed solely for reading, and it does not support writing or modifying Excel files.
  • Limited to Older Excel Formats
    With version 2.0 and above, xlrd only supports the older .xls Excel file format and does not support .xlsx files.
  • Deprecated Features
    Due to changes in dependencies and updates to Excel formats, some features in xlrd have become deprecated or removed, which can limit its functionality.
  • Performance
    NumPy operations are executed with highly optimized C and Fortran libraries, making them significantly faster than standard Python arithmetic operations, especially for large datasets.
  • Versatility
    NumPy supports a vast range of mathematical, logical, shape manipulation, sorting, selecting, I/O, and basic linear algebra operations, making it a versatile tool for scientific and numeric computing.
  • Ease of Use
    NumPy provides an intuitive, easy-to-understand syntax that extends Python's ability to handle arrays and matrices, lowering the barrier to performing complex scientific computations.
  • Community Support
    With a large and active community, NumPy offers extensive documentation, tutorials, and support for troubleshooting issues, as well as continuous updates and enhancements.
  • Integrations
    NumPy integrates seamlessly with other libraries in Python's scientific stack like SciPy, Matplotlib, and Pandas, facilitating a streamlined workflow for data science and analysis tasks.

Possible disadvantages

  • Memory Consumption
    NumPy arrays can consume large amounts of memory, especially when working with very large datasets, which can become a limitation on systems with limited memory capacity.
  • Learning Curve
    For users new to scientific computing or coming from different programming backgrounds, understanding the intricacies of NumPy's operations and efficient usage can take time and effort.
  • Limited GPU Support
    NumPy primarily runs on the CPU and doesn't natively support GPU acceleration, which can be a disadvantage for extremely compute-intensive tasks that could benefit from parallel processing.
  • Dependency on Python
    Since NumPy is a Python library, it depends on the Python runtime environment. This can be a limitation in environments where Python is not the primary language or isn't supported.
  • Indexing Complexity
    Although NumPy's slicing and indexing capabilities are powerful, they can sometimes be complex or unintuitive, especially for multi-dimensional arrays, leading to potential errors and confusion.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

python xlrd
NumPy

No analysis of python xlrd yet.

Overall verdict

  • Yes, NumPy is considered good. It is a foundational library in the Python ecosystem for numerical computing and is used globally by researchers, engineers, and data scientists.

Why this product is good

  • NumPy is widely regarded as a good library because it offers fast, flexible, and efficient array handling that is integral to scientific computing in Python. It provides tools for integrating C/C++ and Fortran code, useful linear algebra, random number capabilities, and a vast collection of mathematical functions. Its array broadcasting capabilities and versatility make complex mathematical computations straightforward.

Recommended for

  • Scientists and researchers working with large-scale scientific computations.
  • Data scientists engaged in data analysis and manipulation.
  • Engineers and developers needing performance-optimized mathematical computations.
  • Educators and students in STEM fields.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

python xlrd 0 videos + Add
NumPy 3 videos + Add

No python xlrd videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Learn NUMPY in 5 minutes - BEST Python Library!

More videos

  • - Python for Data Analysis by Wes McKinney: Review | Learn python, numpy, pandas and jupyter notebooks
  • - Effective Computation in Physics: Review | Learn python, numpy, regular expressions, install python

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
python xlrd
NumPy
100% 100%
0% 0%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

python xlrd no reviews yet
NumPy no reviews yet

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

python xlrd 2 mentions
NumPy 122 mentions
  • I need to read multiple excel files, extract a column from each and compose a new file
    So to get this out of the way first, xlrd has less features than openpyxl and in addition only works with the old '.xls' format, not the newer '.xlsx' format. Even on the xlrd's Github repo it says: 'Please use openpyxl where you can... '. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Sending Bulk SMS using Africas Talking, Python and Excel
    There are few alternative libraries for reading and writing excel files: Pandas, Xlrd , openpyxl among others. In the end I settled for openpyxl as I had the most experience Using it and it had support for .xlsx files. - Source: dev.to / over 5 years ago

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Alternatives to python xlrd and NumPy

When comparing python xlrd and NumPy, you can also consider the following products.