FYI, Pandas 2.2.2 has bug that affects data visualization episode

[jlchang]

What is the problem?

FYI, Pandas 2.2.2 seems to have a plotting bug for the plots in plotting with pandas , running albany['circulation'].plot() renders:

instead of:

Pandas 2.0.3 generates the expected plot (Pandas 2.2.3 is also problematic). I filed an issue in the Pandas repo, the bug is confirmed and a workaround was provided.

The pandas team is aware so I expect this to be a transient issue but, in the interim, instructors should either avoid pandas 2.2.2/3 or prepend .plot() with .sort_index().

Location of problem (optional)

episodes/data-visualisation.md

[chennesy]

Thanks for the heads up @jlchang! I submitted a PR #139 to address this by adding an explanatory instructor note to the data viz episode. Since the pandas team have this on their radar to fix, I don't think we should change the lesson content beyond that.

[jlchang]

According to the pandas team, the change is a feature, not a bug. So the lesson should probably be updated to insert .sort-index() before .plot() (which should work for all Python versions) or one could pre-sort the underlying data (less desirable as it leaves a plot of unsorted data as a future point of confusion).

[chennesy]

Thanks @jlchang - I'll update the lesson later this week to incorporate .sort_index() as needed.