2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rule further includes comparing a metadata attribute of the first column with a metadata attribute associated with the rule.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: importing a set of data into a data structure in a memory, the data structure having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, wherein the set of data includes a first column and a second column; importing metadata for the set of data into the memory; determining, by a rules engine, one or more operations on particular columns of the set of data according to a set of rules, wherein a rule of the set of rules includes a condition defined in terms of the metadata, the rule including comparing a metadata attribute of the first column with a metadata attribute of the second column; inputting the determined operations into a data analysis tool; performing the determined operations by the data analysis tool; presenting results of the operations on a display device as an additional column to the plurality of columns; determining, in the rules engine, a count for one or more rules in the set of rules, each count having an associated rule in the one or more rules, wherein each count is based on a number of times the rules engine has generated a column using the associated rule; ranking the one or more rules based on their associated counts; and displaying the one or more rules to a user in an order consistent with their ranking.