On Jan 10, 2007, at 4:57 PM, Eric Firing wrote: > Christopher Barker wrote: >> Eric Firing wrote: >>> This is the big difference between most pylab functions and the >>> corresponding axes or figure methods that they wrap: the pylab >>> functions automatically take care of redrawing the figure if you are >>> in an interactive mode. >> >> Now I feel bad -- I think I encouraged Belinda to work with the OO >> interface, because I think it's the better way to go, and, in >> particular, translates better to putting MPL code in larger programs.
Don't feel bad. The online community is great, and I've appreciated all the advise I've gotten. >> However, it is the case that there is a lot of stuff in pylab that >> makes >> it easier to use MPL in interactive mode. I kind of think that's a >> shame. I don't think that there is any reason that an OO interface is >> less suited to interactive mode. > > Even without the automatic-redraw difference, the OO interface > requires > more typing, and more mental record-keeping, than the pylab interface. > Typing "plot(x,y)" is easier to do and remember than creating a > figure, > adding axes, and then typing "ax1.plot(x,y)". For interactive use, I > really don't see any advantage to an OO interface. What advantage do > you see? In my case, the advantage of pylab over OO is its simplicity. If this simpler usage wasn't available, it would be much harder to teach Matlab-like stuff in introductory programming classes via Python. At the same time, it is very easy to confuse the difference between the Matlab-like stuff, the OO-like stuff, and then there's also numpy. I vote for better documentation regarding these pieces, their interactions and their differences, somewhere easy-to-find online. --b ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Matplotlib-users mailing list Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
