What would you like to see in a book about Matplotlib?

[Marco Nawijn]

On Jan 5, 10:57 am, Sandro Tosi <matrixh... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello and Happy 2009!
>
> I received the interesting proposal to author a book on Matplotlib,
> the powerful 2D plotting library for Python.
>
> While preparing the arguments list, I'd like to hear even your
> opinion, because different points-of-view will lead to a better
> product.
>
> Some basic question I'd like to ask are:
>
> - what are you using matplotlib for?
> - what are the things you like the most of matplotlib, that you want
> to give emphasis to? And why?
> - what are the (basic) things that, when you were beginning to use
> matplotlib, you wanted to see grouped up but couldn't find?
> - what would you like to see in a book about matplotlib?
> - what are some those advanced feature that made you yell "WOW!!" ?
> - what are the things you'd like to explore of matplotlib and never
> had time to do?
>
> Your suggestions are really appreciated :) And wish me good luck!

Hello Sandro,

I am happy to hear that there might be a book on Matplotlib. I am
using Matplotlib for a while now and find it a very usefull and
powerfull library for generating graphs. I will try to answer some of
your questions. I am by no means an expert in the field, so I only
express my personal experience.

>> What are you using matplotlib for? I currently use Matplotlib to generate a series of graphs that visualise data channels (strain measurements) during a structural test. These graphs need to be refreshed about every 4 seconds. Each of the graphs contains 1 to 6 curves.

>> What are the things you like the most of matplotlib, that you want
to give emphasis to? And why? In general I like the most the fact that
I can generate high quality publication ready graphs with a consistent
look with minimal effort. Further, although the matlab-style commands
are very usefull I think the class interface is more powerfull. The
class interface also has a steeper learning curve. So, for me it would
be very interesting if much emphasis will be on the class interface.

>> What are the (basic) things that, when you were beginning to use
matplotlib, you wanted to see grouped up but couldn't find? I
seriously hope the book is not for "dummies", but provides at least a
significant amount of information on more advanced features of
Matplotlib. I think the currently available tutorials are sufficient
to getting started. From my point of view I am very interested in:
    - Dynamically updating a series of graphs
    - Configuring layout of graphs (colors, labels, legends, etc.)
    - Managing dimensions of the figure when you export the figure to
e.g PNG. For me this is interesting in the sense that if I insert a
figure in a report/paper, I would like that the fonts used in the
graph remain proportional to the surrounding text.

If you need more information please let me know.

I wish you good luck!

Kind regards,

Marco