Python: how to do basic data manipulation like in R?

Question

I have been working with R for several years. R is very strong in data manipulation. I\'m learning python and I would like to know how to manipulate data using python. Basically

Answer 1

import csv
from itertools import izip

with open('source.csv') as f:
    reader = csv.reader(f)
    # filter data
    data = (row for row in reader if row[1].strip() in ('5', '8'))
    # make a new variable
    data = (row + [int(row[2]) * 3] for row in data)
    # transpose data
    data = izip(*data)
    # write data to a new csv file
    with open('destination.csv', 'w') as fw:
        csv.writer(fw).writerows(data)