When you cook, you go through certain steps in a consistent order. You figure out which ingredients you need, you gather them, you prep them, and finally you cook them and present your finished dish.

当你烹饪时，你需要按照一定的顺序来进行一些步骤。你先得确定需要哪些食材，去获取它们，去准备它们，最终你进行烹饪并呈上大餐。

Creating a data visualization is a lot like cooking. You decide what data you need, you collect it, you prepare and clean it for use, and then you make the visualization and present your finished result.

创建数据可视化非常类似烹饪。你决定你需要哪些数据，去收集它们，去准备并清理它们从而便于使用，然后你制作可视化并展示你的最终成果。

When you’re cooking, it helps to understand what each ingredient does so you know what you can do with it. For example, salt and sugar look similar but achieve very different results!

当你烹饪时，理解每一种食材非常有帮助，这样你知道你能用它做什么。比如盐和糖看起来差不多，但是作用是完全不同的！

In this section, we’ll talk about what the basic ingredient groups of data are and what can and can’t be done with them so you have a sense of how to properly work with them later on.

在这部分，我们将介绍数据的基本要素分类，以及我们用它们能以及不能做什么，这样你能意识到在以后如何适当的使用它们。