title: Performance difference in pandas read_table vs. read_csv vs. from_csv vs. read_excel?
body: <p>I tend to import .csv files into pandas, but sometimes I may get data in other formats to make <code>DataFrame</code> objects.</p>
  
  <p>Today, I just found out about <code>read_table</code> as a "generic" importer for other formats, and wondered if there were significant performance differences between the various methods in pandas for reading .csv files, e.g. <code>read_table</code>, <code>from_csv</code>, <code>read_excel</code>.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Do these other methods have better performance than <code>read_csv</code>? </li>
  <li>Is <code>read_csv</code> much different than <code>from_csv</code> for creating a <code>DataFrame</code>?</li>
  </ol>