Season's greetings (was Re: Some Python 2.1 ideas)

[Alex Martelli]

"Tim Peters" <tim.one at home.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.977765348.13376.python-list at python.org...
> [Bob Alexander]
> > P.S. Merry Christmas!
>
> [Aahz Maruch]
> > Bah, humbug.
>
> Sounds like you need something to cheer you up, Santa Aahz!  Elf Timmy has

Me, I had the best Christmas ever since I got my first electric
train... got to show Python to my son (Pascal and Assembler
his only previous programming experiences), and again and
again he got the jaw-drops-"but-it-CAN'T-be-THAT-powerful!"
effect which I well recall from my early Python days.  (And as
a cherry on top he kibitzed me for an OKbridge session where
I got close to 70%, but the Python part alone would have, by
itself, been quite enough...!-).

One thing I wasn't able to easily answer -- what's the
*easiest* way for a Python beginner to do function-plots,
with nicely labeled graphs, minor/major ticks, color,
auto-scaled, &c &c?  On-screen display the major need,
though nice printouts wouldn't hurt either.  Speed no
issue, as his new PC is twice as fast as mine!-)

I tried downloading DISLIN but it appears to embed its
own Python, need its own setting of PYTHONPATH; and
(from a superficial look at it) it doesn't seem to do auto
scaling.  Any suggestions?  I'd like to keep amazing him
with Python power and ease, as what dad wouldn't like
for his late-teenage son...:-).


Alex