What can axis names be used for in python pandas?
Question: I was excited when I learned that it is possible name the axes of pandas data
structures (panels, in particular). I named my axes now some plots are
labelled and the axis names show up in `mypanel.axes`.

So then I thought, hm, seems like I should be able to use my axes names in
place of `items`, `major_axis`, and `minor_axis`. I tried
`mypanel.transpose('ground_type', 'volcano', 'date')` and I was sad when that
didn't work. I couldn't find any general documentation on pandas axis names.

So, my question is: what are the intended uses for axis names?

Help me get excited about them again!


Answer: `Panel` is a bit less developed compared to other `pandas` structures, so as
far as I'm aware, named axes can't be used for much. That `transpose` use-case
seems reasonable, may be worth making an issue.

Two alternatives to consider - one is to store your `Panel` as a `DataFrame`
with a `MultiIndex`, which has better support for named levels. For example:

    
    
    In [29]: from pandas.io.data import DataReader
    
    In [30]: pnl = DataReader(['GOOG','AAPL'], 'yahoo')
    
    In [31]: pnl.major_axis.name = 'date'
    
    In [32]: pnl.minor_axis.name = 'ticker'
    
    In [33]: pnl.items.name = 'measure'
    
    In [34]: df = pnl.to_frame()
    
    In [35]: df.unstack(level='ticker').stack(level='measure')
    Out[35]: 
    ticker                        AAPL            GOOG
    date       measure                                
    2010-01-04 Open       2.134300e+02             NaN
               High       2.145000e+02             NaN
               Low        2.123800e+02             NaN
               Close      2.140100e+02             NaN
    ....
    

Another would be to look at [`xray`](http://xray.readthedocs.org/en/stable/)
which is essentially a ND extension of the ideas in `pandas`. It has the
concept of naming axes built in at a deeper level.

