Holy Macro! Books
Power Query Cookbook is an excellent introduction to Power Query. The Cookbook format presents individual concepts through small projects, or Recipes. Instead of following a traditional textbook format, where a few projects are followed from the beginning of the book to the end, in this book each Recipe is atomic, meaning each can be followed individually without having to lead specific versions of files created along the way. Every project lists the software, framework, OS, and memory requirements for the project, so learners will never find out in the middle of a project that they need a Pro or Premium license to perform specific tasks. The Cookbook format is condusive to learning concepts individually, as well as chaining them together. It is also excellent as a reference, since each Recipe can be reworked without relying on files modified in earlier portions of the book. The book starts from bare bones installation, moves through connecting to common data sources, exploring data throug the UI, shaping and combining data, and finishes off with more advanced concepts such as query optimization (both through use of the UI and diagnostics), custom columns and functions, and the use of dataflows. The Advanced Editor and the M code is introduce in the first chapter, and throughout the book. This is a refreshing change from most books, which relegate it to the end if they mention it at all. There is also a plethora of pictures, almost every menu selection is shown, which makes it possible to follow along even when away from your computer. For myself this book was a great refresher on basic Power Query concepts, and I learned some new advanced concepts I had not seen before, and will likely use the next time I'm bringing in data to Power BI. One such example is the use of Clustering match strength to clean data.
