[Edu-sig] matplotlib: a Python plotting library

[Kirby Urner]

> This looks like it could be a valuable tool for promoting Python in
> higher education.
> 
> --
> Simon Willison
> Web development weblog: http://simon.incutio.com/

Thanks for the link.  I should add it to the edu-sig page.

Also see:
http://www.scipy.org/
http://www.scipy.org/site_content/tutorials/plot_tutorial

IMO, one of the myths out there is that Python isn't used in higher
education and therefore needs promoting therein.  

What's closer to the truth is dynamic (vs. static) programming languages
have only recently made significant inroads in introductory and
algorithms-based computer science courses.  Python is riding this wave.

But when it comes to just getting results, in both the academic and
commercial sectors, Python is already very well established.  You come
across it everywhere.  It controls telescopes, displays molecular
structures, implements e-commerce.  

Of course it doesn't hurt to advocate for even greater adoption, but we
should avoid being inadvertently counter-productive by buying and sharing
the premise that "hardly anybody uses Python".  

The reality is it's a major language, used by lots of people every day.

Kirby