In Python 2.6, I used matplotlib to make some simple graphs. However, it is incompatible with Python 3.1.
What are some alternative modules that can accomplish the same thing without being very complex?
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2Why do you use Python 3.1? I would stick to 2.6 for the time being.nikow– nikow2010-07-30 18:49:37 +00:00Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 18:49
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32If everyone thinks that way, 3.1 will never catch on.John Howard– John Howard2010-07-30 18:50:57 +00:00Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 18:50
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6Of course it will catch on, Numpy just gained compatibility, now others will follow. If you want to help then maybe try to contribute to the matplotlib porting effort.nikow– nikow2010-07-30 18:55:07 +00:00Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 18:55
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4Backward compatibility just slows down progress and innovation.Bertrand Marron– Bertrand Marron2010-08-09 15:08:16 +00:00Commented Aug 9, 2010 at 15:08
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2In case someone comes across this post ... I've just installed numpy and scipy in python 3.1.2 without problem.safetyduck– safetyduck2011-02-20 23:50:01 +00:00Commented Feb 20, 2011 at 23:50
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9 Answers
You say you want to create some simple graphs but haven't really said how simple or what sort of graphs you want. So long as they aren't too complex you might want to consider using the Google Chart API.
e.g.
That has some advantages: you just have to construct a URL that describes the desired chart so there shouldn't be any issues using it from Python 3.x. Of course there are disadvantages also: you need to have an internet connection when generating the chart, and you might not have the chart styles you have been using with matplotlib.
If you don't want to construct the URLs directly there is at least one Python wrapper for the charts API. It doesn't work directly on Python 3.x, but running it through 2to3 seems to convert it successfully.
3 Comments
Matt Joiner
Where is the URL API documented?
Duncan
@MattJoiner, it looks as though Google have updated their chart API so now the docs mostly talk about the new visualization classes. Try code.google.com/apis/chart/image/docs/making_charts.html for the URL API.
Duncan
would the downvoter like to leave a comment saying why? Thanks
A stable version supporting Python 3 has since been released: official announcement.
3 Comments
mgalgs
I would say a lot of progress :) (it's been working fine for me) github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib-py3 (I know this thread is old -- but ranks high on results for "matplotlib python3" in google)
Matt Joiner
I get lame exceptions when trying to save figures.
Aseem Bansal
A version for Python3.3 is available at their official page
I wrote a small example that runs in python 3 and uses the google chart api (as suggested by Duncan, I wrote the solution after seeing this post).
It is not ideal since it adds a dependency one a 3rd party that might break backward compatibility at any time, but the graphs are nice and there is absolutely no added dependency on the python code. Worth considering for not 'mission critical code'.
You can find/download the example here. Here is the graph that it generates from data in a .xml file:
# build the query with template parameters
query ="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chxl=0:__X_LABELS__&chxp=__X_LABELS_POS__&chxr=0,__MIN_TIME__,__MAX_TIME__|1,__MIN_WEIGHT__,__MAX_WEIGHT__&chxs=0,676767,11.5,0,lt,676767|1,676767,11.5,0,lt,676767&chxt=x,y&chs=800x300&cht=lc&chco=3072F3&chds=__MIN_WEIGHT__,__MAX_WEIGHT__&chd=t:__COMMASEP_WEIGHT__&chdl=Weight&chdlp=b&chls=2,4,1&chma=5,5,5,25&chtt=Your+Weight+Timeline"
[...]
# relace template with data
query = query.replace('__X_LABELS__', strXLabels)
query = query.replace('__X_LABELS_POS__', strXLabelsPos)
query = query.replace('__MIN_TIME__', str(min(lst_dateEpoch)))
query = query.replace('__MAX_TIME__', str(max(lst_dateEpoch)))
[...]
# use 'urllib.request' to download the data & write to file
sock = urllib.request.urlopen(query)
image_bytes = sock.read()
sock.close()
fh = open('Weight_GoogleGraphApi.png', 'wb')
fh.write(image_bytes)
fh.close()
2 Comments
Matt Joiner
Where is the URL API documented?
Dave Burton
Charts URL API tutorial: psychopyko.com/tutorial/how-to-use-google-charts Reference now says "deprecated": developers.google.com/chart/image/docs/chart_params Charts API, main page: developers.google.com/chart Charts API ref seems to be all Javascript now: developers.google.com/chart/interactive/docs/reference Gallery of examples: google-developers.appspot.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery Linechart example, "view source": google-developers.appspot.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery/… Also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chart_API
rpy2 is providing access to the graphics capabilities of R, and rpy2 is becoming compatible with Python 3 (thanks to the help of Google for funding Greg over the summer).
Code against the current dev branch is in a patch queue.
edit: rpy2 2.2.0 is working with Python 3.2
Comments
Matplotlib binaries for python 3.x (windows) are avaliable. http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/
1 Comment
Craig McQueen
Is this some sort of alpha/beta?
As an alternative to installing subversion to grab the source, Numpy's SF files page has the latest copy of 1.5 in a few different (Windows-friendly) formats:
Comments
There are at least two graphing libraries using PyQt, namely PyQwt and PyQtGraph. I've been using PyQwt with Python 2.6 for a few weeks now and it is quite handy. The documentation isn't great, and most of the time I need to refer to either the Qwt docs or the examples - although the times I've had to look at the docs have been few and far between, it is VERY easy to use. I tried building it against python 3.1 just now though without success. I coulnd't find the tar package for 5.2.1 which is the only version compatible with python 3.0 and there isn't anything on MacPorts for that either.
There is also a fairly complete looking list of plotting libraries on at python.org http://wiki.python.org/moin/NumericAndScientific/Plotting
