[Edu-sig] Re: IDLE and Matplotlib

[Hans Fangohr]

Dear all,

The problem with IDLE and matplotlib might be bug which seems to be 
solveable (just got feedback from Matplotlib developers). I will post a 
summary here in a few days.

Thanks,

Hans



On Tue, 11 Jan 2005, Hans Fangohr wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am about to teach Python to a number of students who already know how to 
> use Matlab (on a basic level). For that reason, the matplotlib library for 
> plotting curves is ideally suited (it seems quite good anyway).
>
> The teaching computers are Win XP machines. I have settled for the Enthough 
> Python Edition and the latest matplotlib (both executables can be found in 
> www.soton.ac.uk/~fangohr/download/python).
>
> I have prepared the exercises on linux and am now trying to run them in 
> windows. This is where I realised that matplotlib doesn't work well with 
> IDLE.
>
> More particularly, it is known that the default backend TkAgg doesn't work 
> with IDLE (see here http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/backends.html#TkAgg)
> but it appears to work with "IDLE -n" (this is what it says on that web 
> page).
>
> The problem I experience is this:
>
> -start idle
> -execute these commands:
>
> import pylab
> pylab.plot(range(10))
> pylab.show()
>
> This produces a figure window which seems to work fine.
>
> At this point when closing the figure window, I can't get the IDLE prompt 
> active again. (It seems that IDLE thinks the program and the figure process 
> are still running, and is waiting for control to return.)
>
> This, in itself, is maybe not suprising. However, the idle -n switch doesn't 
> seem to solve the problem for me (see below).
>
> The same problem is observed when I execute a program in the IDLE editor (by 
> pressing F5).
>
> What do people think how I should continue?
>
> I could
>
> - try to make IDLE work with matplotlib (I think this is my preferred 
> option)
> In that case, how do I tell IDLE on Windows to start with -n? (Not a
> Windows freak). In the start menu, I can change the properties for the
> link to idle from  '''
>
> 	C:\Python23\pythonw.exe "C:\Python23\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw"
>
> 	C:\Python23\pythonw.exe "C:\Python23\Lib\idlelib\idle.pyw" "-n"
>
> but this doesn't seem to solve the problem: I get exactly the same
> behaviour as described above.
>
> - go to a completely different environment such as ipython. I am not
> too keen on this as the IDLE environment looks for familiar to the
> students
>
> - suggest to run their programs by doubleclicking on them if they
> use matplotlib. This seems very ugly considering that you edit the file
> in the IDLE editor but you can't use it to execute the program.
>
>   This is my backup solution.
>
>
> I have addressed the matplotlib mailing list but am not to optimistic.
>
> Does anyone have some experience with IDLE, matplotlib and IDLE on Windows 
> machines?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Hans
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> Dr Hans Fangohr
>
> Computational Engineering & Design Research Group
> School of Engineering Sciences
> University of Southampton
> Southampton, SO17 1BJ
> United Kingdom
>
> Location: Building 25, Room 1027
> phone : +44 (0) 23 8059 8345
> fax   : +44 (0) 23 8059 7082
> email : fangohr at soton.ac.uk
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>

-------------------------------------------------
Dr Hans Fangohr

Computational Engineering & Design Research Group
School of Engineering Sciences
University of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

Location: Building 25, Room 1027
phone : +44 (0) 23 8059 8345
fax   : +44 (0) 23 8059 7082
email : fangohr at soton.ac.uk
-------------------------------------------------