Goals Today

• Get an overview on plotting options
• Look at Baby Names

Overview of Plotting Options

Matplotlib (mpl) is fundamental: matplotlib: python plotting: Matplotlib 1.3.1 documentation. We're going to be using it throughout the course. I myself am not an expert in mpl -- so we're on a learning curve together.

Assignment for today is to have read Chapter 8 of PfDA and make sure you can run nbviewer.ipython.org/github/rdhyee/working-open-data-2014/blob/master/notebooks/Day_11_B_Setting_Up_for_PfDA.ipynb.

There's a lot to mpl -- here's what I think are key things to learn:

• There are many backends for running mpl -- we will focus on how to get plots in the IPython Notebook.
• Read the Matplotlib 1.3.1 documentation, study examples in mpl gallery
• Note some fundamental conceptual aspects to mpl (as I outline in Day_12_A_Matplotlib_Intro.ipynb and try to make basic plots on your own (line plots, scatter plots, bar plots).

Consider Two libraries that focus on making matplotlib plots prettier by default:

• seaborn. See also seaborn: aesthetics.ipynb
• prettyplotlib

Other promising libraries:

• bokeh
• vincent, which ties together Python and vega, which sits on top of D3.js - Data-Driven Documents

Upcoming workshops at the D-Lab

• Tomorrow: Getting Things Done with Pandas! "Getting Things Done with Pandas" (Feb 28, 2014 4-6pm)

• You can sign up for a short class co-taught by Dav Clark and Raymond Yee (March 5): Javascript Visualization | D-Lab. We'll cover some of the same material in this class, but Dav is a great teacher.

In Class Activity / Assignment

Day_12_B_Baby_Names_Starter.ipynb#Names-that-are-both-M-and-F

Assignments / Homework