If, like me (and Ruth), you spend your life in Power BI but have a lingering feeling that you should get round to learning Python for data analysis sometime then here’s something you should check out: the new Data Wrangler extension for Visual Studio Code. All the details are in the announcement blog post:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/data-wrangler-release/

…and this video is a great introduction to what it does:

Why is it interesting for someone like me? Because it works in a very, very similar way to Power Query – except that instead of generating M code in the background, it generates Python. It doesn’t have the same amount of functionality that Power Query does and the UI is a bit more basic but anyone with Power Query experience will feel immediately at home. I got it up and running very easily and I can see that it will be great for anyone learning Python or who needs a productivity boost.