The document presents xlwings, a tool connecting Python with Excel, highlighting its advantages such as easy syntax, deployment, and debugging, and support for essential data structures. It also mentions some proprietary and open-source alternatives to xlwings, as well as its limitations, including reliance on the COM interface and potential bugs due to its early version. A demo link for xlwings is provided for further exploration.

1. xlwings:
Connecting Python with Excel
Python for Quant Finance Meetup, London
10 June 2014 Felix Zumstein

2. 8 Years in Banking Startup (Feb 2014)
About Me
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3. Other Solutions to the same Problem
• Proprietary solutions
– PyXLL
– DataNitro
• Microsoft’s solution
– Pyvot (open-source but hosted on codeplex...)
• Others:
– ExPy
– Pyinex
– ExcelPython
– XLLoop
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4. xlwings: The upside
• Easy syntax: Close to VBA yet Pythonic.
• Easy deployment: No add-in required. Not even an
existing Python installation.
• Easy debugging: Directly from within Python.
• Focus on datastructures that matter: NumPy arrays
and Pandas DataFrames.
• Technically simple: Works with pretty much every
combination of Python, Excel and Windows.
• Works with your favorite environment: Cmd, IPython,
Spyder, PyCharm etc.
• It’s BSD licensed, on GitHub and part of Anaconda 2.0
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5. xlwings: The downside
• Overhead: Each call relies on the COM interface
through pywin32 and the Command Prompt
• No UDFs
• It’s still v0.1.0: So expect a few bugs and API changes
(but also tons of new features...)
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6. Demo
http://xlwings.org
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