This chapter is theoretical but also necessary. The rest of the book is filled with concrete examples based on real cases. However, like every tool, it is important to understand the core principle to build great visualizations. Of course, Tableau is easy, and you can start creating visualizations without any help. However, there is nothing worse than starting with bad habits, only to discover that you've been doing it wrong the whole time.

What we saw together is the core of Tableau and how it works. We got a clear overview of the different products, learned the Tableau language and the toolbar options, and understood the difference between Measures, Dimensions, Discrete fields, Continuous fields, a Live connection, and an Extract.