Python: Convert string (in scientific notation) to float

Question

I\'m trying to import a large .csv file containing text and numbers using genfromtxt in numpy. I\'m only interested in two columns. I have most of the import sorted out wit

Answer 1

 with open( datafile,'r' ) as inData:
     for line in inData:
          j = list( map( float,   filter( None  , [ x for x in line.strip().split(',') ] )) )

Just mentioned generally, as it solves a similar problem that brought me to this page.