index.qmd

---
title: Welcome to the `census21api` documentation!
toc: false
about:
    id: welcome
    template: marquee
    links:
        - icon: github
          href: https://github.com/datasciencecampus/census21api
          text: GitHub
---

<br>

:::{#welcome}

## What is this and why does it exist?

This package, `census21api`, is the (unofficial) Python interface to the
["Create a Custom Dataset"](https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/create) web tool
for the 2021 England and Wales Census.

The primary goal of this project is to streamline the process of accessing and
working with data from the 2021 England and Wales Census API. With
`census21api`, you can create pretty much any Census tables you like in a
programmatic way.

## Who made this?

The package and its documentation were developed by the 2023 cohort of Office
for National Statistics data engineering and architecture apprentices -- with
support from the [Data Science Campus](https://datasciencecampus.ons.gov.uk).

See our [citation file](https://github.com/datasciencecampus/census21api/blob/main/CITATION.cff)
for a list of the original authors or our
[GitHub repository](https://github.com/datasciencecampus/census21api/graphs/contributors) 
for all the contributors.

## Where do I go now?

Our documentation follows the [Diátaxis](https://diataxis.fr/) framework and is
split into the following sections:

- [Tutorials](docs/tutorials/index.qmd) are walkthroughs of projects using
  `census21api` --- if you're new, start here.
- [How-to guides](docs/how-to-guides/index.qmd) are short guides with a very
  specific goal in mind.
- [Reference](docs/reference/index.qmd) holds the technical documentation
  covering the details of how `census21api` works.

:::