DOC: added recommended dependencies section in install.rst, linking from v0.11.0.rst, and basics.rst

DOC: added timing table for numexpr

Author: jreback

README.rst

@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Highly Recommended Dependencies
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   * `numexpr <http://code.google.com/p/numexpr/>`__: to accelerate some expression evaluation operations
        also required by `PyTables`
-  * `bottleneck <http://berkeleyanalytics.com/>`__: to accelerate certain numerical operations
+  * `bottleneck <http://berkeleyanalytics.com/bottleneck>`__: to accelerate certain numerical operations
 
 Optional dependencies
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RELEASE.rst

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ pandas 0.11.0
   - Added ``.at``   attribute, to support fast scalar access via labels (replaces ``get_value/set_value``)
   - Moved functionaility from ``irow,icol,iget_value/iset_value`` to ``.iloc`` indexer 
     (via ``_ixs`` methods in each object)
+  - Added support for expression evaluation using the ``numexpr`` library
 
 **Improvements to existing features**
 

doc/source/basics.rst

@@ -86,6 +86,33 @@ unlike the axis labels, cannot be assigned to.
     strings are involved, the result will be of object dtype. If there are only
     floats and integers, the resulting array will be of float dtype.
 
+.. _basics.accelerate:
+
+Accelerated operations
+----------------------
+
+Pandas has support for accelerating certain types of binary numerical and boolean operations using
+the ``numexpr`` library (starting in 0.11.0) and the ``bottleneck`` libraries. 
+
+These libraries are especially useful when dealing with large data sets, and provide large
+speedups. ``numexpr`` uses smart chunking, caching, and multiple cores. ``bottleneck`` is
+a set of specialized cython routines that are especially fast when dealing with arrays that have
+``nans``.
+
+Here is a sample (using 100 column x 100,000 row ``DataFrames``):
+
+.. csv-table::
+    :header: "Operation", "0.11.0 (ms)", "Prior Vern (ms)", "Ratio to Prior"
+    :widths: 30, 30, 30, 30
+    :delim: ;
+
+    ``df1 > df2``; 13.32; 125.35;  0.1063
+    ``df1 * df2``; 21.71;  36.63;  0.5928
+    ``df1 + df2``; 22.04;  36.50;  0.6039
+
+You are highly encouraged to install both libraries. See the section 
+:ref:`Recommended Dependencies <install.recommended_dependencies>` for more installation info.
+
 .. _basics.binop:
 
 Flexible binary operations

doc/source/faq.rst

@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
 
 .. _ref-monkey-patching:
 
-
-----------------------------------------------------
+Adding Features to your Pandas Installation
+-------------------------------------------
 
 Pandas is a powerful tool and already has a plethora of data manipulation
 operations implemented, most of them are very fast as well.

doc/source/install.rst

@@ -70,7 +70,23 @@ Dependencies
   * `pytz <http://pytz.sourceforge.net/>`__
      * Needed for time zone support
 
-Optional dependencies
+.. _install.recommended_dependencies:
+
+Recommended Dependencies
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+  * `numexpr <http://code.google.com/p/numexpr/>`__: for accelerating certain numerical operations. 
+    ``numexpr`` uses multiple cores as well as smart chunking and caching to achieve large speedups.
+  * `bottleneck <http://berkeleyanalytics.com/bottleneck>`__: for accelerating certain types of ``nan``
+    evaluations. ``bottleneck`` uses specialized cython routines to achieve large speedups.
+
+.. note::
+
+   You are highly encouraged to install these libraries, as they provide large speedups, especially 
+   if working with large data sets.
+
+
+Optional Dependencies
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
   * `Cython <http://www.cython.org>`__: Only necessary to build development

doc/source/v0.11.0.txt

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ pay close attention to.
 There is a new section in the documentation, :ref:`10 Minutes to Pandas <10min>`,
 primarily geared to new users.
 
+There are several libraries that are now :ref:`Recommended Dependencies <install.recommended_dependencies>`
+
 Selection Choices
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -224,11 +226,11 @@ API changes
 Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-  - Numexpr is now a 'highly recommended dependency', to accelerate certain
-    types of expression evaluation
+  - Numexpr is now a :ref:`Recommended Dependencies <install.recommended_dependencies>`, to accelerate certain
+    types of numerical and boolean operations
 
-  - Bottleneck is now a 'highly recommended dependency', to accelerate certain
-    types of numerical evaluations
+  - Bottleneck is now a :ref:`Recommended Dependencies <install.recommended_dependencies>`, to accelerate certain
+    types of ``nan`` operations
 
   - In ``HDFStore``, provide dotted attribute access to ``get`` from stores
     (e.g. ``store.df == store['df']``)