How to import a csv file using python with headers intact, where first column is a non-numerical

For Python 3

Remove the rb argument and use either r or don’t pass argument (default read mode).

with open( <path-to-file>, 'r' ) as theFile:
    reader = csv.DictReader(theFile)
    for line in reader:
        # line is { 'workers': 'w0', 'constant': 7.334, 'age': -1.406, ... }
        # e.g. print( line[ 'workers' ] ) yields 'w0'
        print(line)

For Python 2

import csv
with open( <path-to-file>, "rb" ) as theFile:
    reader = csv.DictReader( theFile )
    for line in reader:
        # line is { 'workers': 'w0', 'constant': 7.334, 'age': -1.406, ... }
        # e.g. print( line[ 'workers' ] ) yields 'w0'

Python has a powerful built-in CSV handler. In fact, most things are already built in to the standard library.