Notebooks where all the rage in the 90's. I spent quite a few years (~15) with Mathematica and its "notebook". Of course, Maple, Mathcad and Matlab all had the same thing. At some point, I wanted to write more readable and modular code that others could use (and that I could reuse) so I switched to using and IDE for python, Java and C. My workflow enables exploratory data analysis as well as algorithm development. The huge advantage of IDE's vs. REPL's is that in the end, it's easier to write the quality of code that is ready to be shipped off to a production server. I have watched the "Return of the Notebook" with some trepidation: yes, it allows quick iteration and lower barrier to entry, but ultimately if your goal is to create a software product, learning good coding skills in an IDE is a much better path.
I use it quite a bit for data analysis, in particular for user-defined functions with python. Being able to explore your data (via SQL and it's powerful syntax) in addition to functions and aggregators that I define, is REALLY useful. You could do the whole thing in python (and data imports), but adding the SQL part in is so much easier than building dictionaries and filtering, sorting etc...
wouldn't it be better to use existing structures, like all the abandoned malls in the usa? why not distribute the workforce so people can live in an affordable, commutable area? and it bugs me further they couldn't find a way to locate walking distance to bart or caltrain.
Or ... you could stay in the city and get an MS in Analytics from University of San Francisco at the downtown 101 Howard campus. http://www.usfca.edu/analytics/
The program is excellent, has a REAL practicum experience and boasts nearly 100% employment 3 months post graduation. It comes in at about half the cost of cal's program. [Full disclosure ... I'm an adjunct there] Here's what you can learn in one year
http://www.usfca.edu/artsci/msan/courses/
The combination of location, instruction and work experience is unprecedented.
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