DEV Community: Hadijja Musekwa

Using loops in python

Hadijja Musekwa — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 20:44:29 +0000

I recently learnt how to work with loops in Python, and it unlocked a level of comfort and ease while working with the program, since the unnecessarily long and difficult process became easier.

I learned about for loops, while loops, break, continue and enumerate.

Loops solve the problem of writing the same lines of code many times by allowing a block of code to be executed repeatedly, either for a specific number of times or while a condition remains true.

for Loops
This is used when I want to iterate through a sequence of items, as demonstrated below.

Python takes each item from the list, stores it in the variable name, and then the indented code runs for each item.

using range
This function is used with for loops when I want to repeat something a certain number of times.

it was important to learn that for example, range(5) starts at 0 and stops before 5.

When I want to control exactly how many times an operation occurs, I can specify a starting point: *range(1, 6)
*
The range function, range(start, stop, step), defines the starting point, the stopping point and the increment between each number in the sequence.

while loop
A while loop continues executing as long as a condition is true.
The problem is that the number never changes, so the condition stays true and creates an infinite loop.
To avoid an infinite loop, we increment the value in each loop. This creates a false condition and ends the loop, as demonstrated below.

break
The break statement is used to immediately stop a loop even if the condition has not been met.

It is effective when I find what I want and no longer need to continue.

Another example of the use of while loop and break statement

continue
The continue statement skips the current iteration and moves on to the next.

enumarate
Sometimes when looping, we need the item itself and the position at the same time. Indexes normally start at 0, but that would not make sense for positions, so we assign a starting point as demonstrated below.

nested loops
This is a loop inside a loop, and for every one round of the outer loop, the inner loop runs from start to finish.

Conclusion
Loops are important in Python as they automate operations.

Operators and Conditional statements

Hadijja Musekwa — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:07:46 +0000

Operators and conditional statements enable a program to perform calculations, make decisions and respond according to different situations.

Comparison operators

These compare two values and give a Boolean result (True or False).
Common comparison operators are demonstrated in an example below;

You can compare integers and strings, including alphabetical comparisons, but they are case-sensitive.

Arithmetic operators

These perform basic math operations.

Conditional statements

These allow a program to make decisions between possible outcomes.
if statement is used when there's only one possible outcome.
The if...else statement is used when a program needs to choose between possible outcomes.
The __if...elif... else _ _ statement is used when there are more than two possible conditions.
Indentation using a colon (:) at the end of the line indicates that the line belongs to the if statement.

Python uses conditions to determine what should happen in different situations using conditional and operational statements.

Publishing and Embedding Power BI Reports on the Web with IFrames

Hadijja Musekwa — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 16:13:34 +0000

Introduction
Power BI is one of the most used tools for data visualization, reporting and analytics. It enables users to connect to different data sources, transform data and create interactive dashboards and reports.
However, many experience hardship in publishing created reports to the web and embedding it using iframe.
This article provides a detailed step by step guide on how to:

create a workspace in Power BI
Upload and publish your report
Generate an embed code
Embed the report into a website using iframe

Understanding Power BI Publishing
This is the process of uploading the repot from Power BI Desktop to Power BI service. the report can be shared and embedded into websites once published.

Creating a Workspace in Power BI Service
A workspace is collaborative containers used to create, manage and share collective reports and dashboards.

steps to create a Workspace

In the Power BI service (browser),
Sign into your account in the power BI service (browser)
Select Workspaces in the left pane, then New Workspace
select create > Workspaces > New Workspace

Enter Workspace name and description > save.

Preparing and Publishing the Report
Ensure the report is complete in Power BI Desktop before publishing.
Steps to Publish a Report

In Power BI Desktop, select Publish on the Home ribbon

Sign in to Power BI if prompted
select your workspace > select When publishing is complete, a link to the report will be seen. Select the link to open the report in your Power BI service.

Generating Embed code

open report in Power BI service
Click file > Embed report the click website or portal
Copy link to iFrame HTML

Embedding report in desktop
Create a new folder in desktop
Open the new folder in text editor
Create a new file
Paste iFrame in the text editor
Save and copy on clipboard (Ctrl + A + X)
Copy a sample HTML from any website
Paste it in the text editor and save
Open folder in desktop
Open index in browser
copy URL

Delete paragraph 9 in text editor
Replace it with the iframe HTML and save
Refresh page and sign in if prompted
The Power BI reported will load

Data modelling in Power BI: Joins, Relationships, and Schemas Explained.

Hadijja Musekwa — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:50:31 +0000

data modelling

It is the process of analyzing and defining different data types and the relationships between them

SQL joins

we shall assume Table A(left) and Table B(right) as data sets given to us
Inner Join: This returns only rows with matches from both table A and B.
Left Join: Returns all rows from the left table(A) and matching rows from the right table(B). Nulls from table B will be returned if no matches.
Right Join: Returns all rows from the right table(B) and matching rows from the left table(A). No matches will appear as nulls.
Full Outer Join: Returns all rows from both tables.
Left Anti: Returns rows from the left table (A) that have no match on the right table (B).
Right Anti: Returns all rows from the right table(A) that have no matches on the left table(B).

Illustrations of Joins

Power BI relationships

Relationships connect tables using keys
1. One-to-Many(1:M): Commonest that links one table to many
Example: One patient that has many visits.
2. Many-to-Many(M:M): Links both tables as they both have duplicates.
Example: Patients and diseases where one patient can have many diseases but one disease affects many patients.
3. One-to-One (1:1): There is only one match from one table to another.
Example: Patients and their NIN
Cardinality defines the relationship type between two tables for example: 1:M, 1:1 and M:M

Fact vs Dimension tables

Fact tables contain numbers and measurable data for example visits, sales and cases
dimensional tables contains descriptive information for example patient details, location and time.

schemas

This is how tables are organized

Star Schema: one central fact table has surrounding dimensions.
Snowflake Schema: Dimensions are split into smaller tables for example location, country, region and district.
Flat table (DLAT): Everything is in one table where everything is merged.

Role playing Dimensions is where one table is used multiple times in different roles.

How excel is used in Real-World Data Analysis

Hadijja Musekwa — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:11:07 +0000

what is excel?

Excel is a spreadsheet(s) application with rows and columns that enables a user to input, clean, analyze, visualize and store data.

Functions and formulae

Some of these include average, sum, maximum and minimum values and IF functions for awarding criteria, COUNT for numeric, COUNTA for text data and COUNT IF and COUNTIFS for conditional values as illustrated below
=COUNTIF(range, criteria)
Pivot tables and Dashboards enable the user to summarize large data sets quickly and use charts to visualize data and show relationships.

Use in Real- World

Excel is used in hospital and research settings to;

Manage client data such as clients' records, surveillance data and progressive results.
Analysists use excel to calculate different values, identify trends and monitor indicators such as prevalence, incidence and mortality rates.

Learning excel (still learning) has enabled me to learn to look at data differently as I can now ably clean, analyze and draw conclusions from it. This will be very helpful in my research work.