standard abbreviation for pyplot or pylab?

Development matplotlib-devel
1

referring to: http://news.gmane.org/find-root.php?message_id=<c7009a550804100055g6388b20ej520e85d8e679a55%40mail.gmail.com>

There was a slightly jumbled set of threads on Numpy-discussion that included a discussion of standardizing imports, like this:

import numpy as np
import scipy as sp

and then this was added, as something else that had been agreed at the same sprint:

import pylab as plt

I think this is a mistake, and it should have been

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

because, for most production code, we don't want to be accessing numpy indirectly via pylab. I suspect it was just a slip-up by the poster, but since I was not involved in whatever discussion led to "plt", and the thread was going in several directions at once, I did not want to jump in.

We should get this straight, however. Note that the point is not to tell users that they must use a particular form, but to try to standardize the usage in the projects themselves, including examples and documentation, so as to reduce confusion among new users.

Eric

2

This is what we agreed to (import matplotlib.pyplot as plt) during the
numpy sprint (I was on google chat remotely but participated in the
discussion). I agree that pylab as plt would just add to the
confusion. We agreed on promoting (and I currently use)

import numpy as np
import scipy as sp
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

JDH

···

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Eric Firing <efiring@...229...> wrote:

referring to:
http://news.gmane.org/find-root.php?message_id=<c7009a550804100055g6388b20ej520e85d8e679a55%40mail.gmail.com>

There was a slightly jumbled set of threads on Numpy-discussion that
included a discussion of standardizing imports, like this:

import numpy as np
import scipy as sp

and then this was added, as something else that had been agreed at the
same sprint:

import pylab as plt

I think this is a mistake, and it should have been

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

3

Sorry, that was my mistake. Thanks for clearing it up.

···

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 3:24 PM, John Hunter <jdh2358@...149...> wrote:

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Eric Firing <efiring@...229...> wrote:
> and then this was added, as something else that had been agreed at the
> same sprint:
> import pylab as plt
> I think this is a mistake, and it should have been
>
> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

This is what we agreed to (import matplotlib.pyplot as plt) during the
numpy sprint (I was on google chat remotely but participated in the
discussion). I agree that pylab as plt would just add to the
confusion. We agreed on promoting (and I currently use)

import numpy as np
import scipy as sp

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

--
Jarrod Millman
Computational Infrastructure for Research Labs
10 Giannini Hall, UC Berkeley
phone: 510.643.4014
http://cirl.berkeley.edu/