We love Polars because it is written in Rust so we can use Rust's security and speed. However, it is not the most efficient if we still have to call in a Python function to perform specific aggregation. In this workshop, we will use the Polars plugin. You will be writing simple functions in Rust, and then you will use it together with Polars in your Python data pipeline.

Target Audience

Engineers and data scientists who use Polars and are confident to write a bit of Rust code. We expect you to have knowledge of Python and Polars and have a bit of Rust experience (or be able to pick it up relatively quickly). Not all concepts in Rust will be explained but we will link to material where you can find explanations.

Goal

To empower Polars users who want to do more and do better with Polars. For folks who don't mind learning a new programming language, it is also a good opportunity to learn and practice writing in Rust.

Outline

• Introduction (15 mins):
  1. What is Polars plugin
  2. How does it work (using Maturin to develop packages)
  3. How to use it with Polars (exercises)
• Simple numerical functions (35 mins):
  1. Creating numerical functions with 1 input (exercise)
  2. Creating numerical functions with multiple inputs in the same row (exercise)
  3. Creating numerical functions that support multiple types (exercise)
• Advance usage with Polars plugin (40 mins):
  1. Creating functions with multiple inputs across different rows (exercise)
  2. Functions with user-set parameters (exercise)
  3. Working with strings and lists (exercise)