A Friendly Data Science Workflow
Tags: datascience, workflow, programming, python
Published: 2023-04-07 11:02:37

As a human being learning to build my problem-solving skills, I've found that data science projects can often feel daunting and overwhelming without a clear roadmap. However, by breaking down the project into smaller steps and following a simple workflow, I've discovered that the process becomes more manageable and less intimidating.

From conception to completion, the steps involved in solving a problem in data science are iterative, much like in other areas. But the key to success is having a clear understanding of the problem you want to solve, the data you need, and the tools you'll use to analyze and model that data.

One powerful approach to problem-solving is first-principle thinking, which involves breaking down a problem into its fundamental elements and reasoning from those basic principles. By taking this approach, you can develop a deeper understanding of the problem and identify more effective solutions.

But first-principle thinking is just one part of a successful data science workflow. It's also important to have a clear plan for data collection, cleaning, and preprocessing, as well as a solid understanding of the tools and technologies needed to build and deploy models. Let us explore a basic workflow data science steps with an example that is hosted [here](https://github.com/andrewmuhoro/MilkGrade/blob/main/Predict_Milk_Quality.ipynb):

- Define the problem: Start by clearly defining the problem you want to solve and identify what you want to achieve.
_We want to predict the quality of milk based on certain parameters such as fat content, pH, temperature, turbidity, etc._

- Collect and clean data: Gather data from various sources and clean it so it's ready for analysis. 
_Gather data on milk quality from various sources such as dairy farms or milk processing plants. Clean the data to remove any missing values or outliers. In this case, we will just download a kaggle dataset that is already cleaned._

```
# Download the dataset
!kaggle datasets download -d harinuu/milk-quality-prediction

# Unzip the downloaded dataset
!unzip milk-quality-prediction.zip

# Load data into a dataframe
data = pd.read_csv('milknew.csv')
```

- Analyze data: Use exploratory data analysis to find patterns and insights in the data.
_We can plot the distribution of milk quality scores and see if there are any correlations between the different parameters._

```
# plot a scatter plot to visualize any correlation between fat and color  
plt.scatter(data_cp['Fat'], data_cp['Turbidity'])
plt.xlabel('Fat Content')
plt.ylabel('Turbidity')
plt.title('Correlation between Fat and Turbidity')
plt.show()
```
- Create features: Create new features or transform existing ones to extract more useful information.
_For example, we can calculate the ratio of fat content to Turbidity to see if this has an impact on milk quality._

- Train a model: Choose a machine learning algorithm, train it on the data, and evaluate its performance.
_For example, we can use a random forest classifier to predict milk quality based on the parameters we've collected. We'll split the data into a training set and a testing set, and use the training set to train the model and the testing set to evaluate its performance._

```
# Split the data into training and testing sets
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.3, random_state=42)

# Train the model
svm = SVC(kernel='linear')
svm.fit(X_train, y_train)


print("Accuracy of SVM classifier: {:.2f}%".format(accuracy_svm * 100))
```

- Optimize the model: Fine-tune the model by adjusting its parameters to improve its performance.
_For example, we can try different values of n_estimators or max_depth for the random forest classifier and see which values give the best results._

- Evaluate the model: Test the model's performance on a validation dataset to make sure it can generalize well.

```
# Evaluate the support vector machine classifier
y_pred_svm = svm.predict(X_test)
accuracy_svm = accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred_svm)

print(classification_report(y_test, y_pred_svm))
```

- Deploy the model: Once the model is ready, deploy it in a production environment so it can be used by others.
_This could involve creating a web application or integrating the model into an existing software system._

To make this workflow easier, you can use some tools like:
1. Virtual environment: A virtual environment is a way to create an isolated environment for your project so that the dependencies and packages you use in your project don't conflict with other projects or the system-level packages. You can create a virtual environment using tools like virtualenv, conda, or pipenv.

2. Requirements.txt: A requirements.txt file is a text file that lists all the packages and dependencies needed for your project. This file makes it easy for others to install and set up your project without having to manually install all the dependencies.

3. .gitignore: A .gitignore file is a configuration file that tells Git which files or directories to ignore when tracking changes to your project. This is useful when you have files or directories that don't need to be version controlled, such as temporary files, log files, or large data files.

4. Data Version Control (DVC): DVC is a version control system for data and models that works alongside Git. DVC makes it easy to track changes to your data and models, collaborate with others, and reproduce experiments. DVC also provides tools for data pipeline management, data versioning, and data storage. You can refer to this [article](https://dev.to/itsdru/introduction-to-data-version-control-fpg) I did on DVC.

5. Docker: Docker is a containerization platform that allows you to package your project and its dependencies into a container that can be run on any platform or environment. Docker makes it easy to deploy and scale your project in a consistent and reproducible way. With Docker, you can create a container image of your project that includes all the dependencies, configurations, and files needed to run it.


By combining first-principle thinking with a simple workflow and the right tools, you can approach data science projects with more confidence and focus, reducing the likelihood of giving up and increasing your chances of success.

Why don't scientists trust atoms?
Because they make up everything.


**Exploring the Possibilities: Let's Collaborate on Your Next Data Venture! You can check me out at this [Link](https://linktr.ee/andrewmuhoro)**