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Python Data Visualization Cookbook

Python Data Visualization Cookbook

By : Igor Milovanovic
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Python Data Visualization Cookbook

Python Data Visualization Cookbook

4 (9)
By: Igor Milovanovic

Overview of this book

Today, data visualization is a hot topic as a direct result of the vast amount of data created every second. Transforming that data into information is a complex task for data visualization professionals, who, at the same time, try to understand the data and objectively transfer that understanding to others. This book is a set of practical recipes that strive to help the reader get a firm grasp of the area of data visualization using Python and its popular visualization and data libraries. Python Data Visualization Cookbook will progress the reader from the point of installing and setting up a Python environment for data manipulation and visualization all the way to 3D animations using Python libraries. Readers will benefit from over 60 precise and reproducible recipes that guide the reader towards a better understanding of data concepts and the building blocks for subsequent and sometimes more advanced concepts. Python Data Visualization Cookbook starts by showing you how to set up matplotlib and the related libraries that are required for most parts of the book, before moving on to discuss some of the lesser-used diagrams and charts such as Gantt Charts or Sankey diagrams. During the book, we go from simple plots and charts to more advanced ones, thoroughly explaining why we used them and how not to use them. As we go through the book, we will also discuss 3D diagrams. We will peep into animations just to show you what it takes to go into that area. Maps are irreplaceable for displaying geo-spatial data, so we also show you how to build them. In the last chapter, we show you how to incorporate matplotlib into different environments, such as a writing system, LaTeX, or how to create Gantt charts using Python. This book will help those who already know how to program in Python to explore a new field – one of data visualization. As this book is all about recipes that explain how to do something, code samples are abundant, and they are followed by visual diagrams and charts to help you understand the logic and compare your own results with what is explained in the book.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
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Python Data Visualization Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
1
Index

Customizing matplotlib's parameters in code


The Library we will use the most throughout this book is matplotlib; it provides the plotting capabilities. Default values for most properties are already set inside the configuration file for matplotlib, called.rc file. This recipe describes how to modify matplotlib properties from our application code.

Getting ready

As we already said, matplotlib configuration is read from a configuration file. This file provides a place to set up permanent default values for certain matplotlib properties, well, for almost everything in matplotlib.

How to do it...

There are two ways to change parameters during code execution: using the dictionary of parameters (rcParams) or calling the matplotlib.rc() command. The former enables us to load already existing dictionary into rcParams, while the latter enables a call to a function using tuple of keyword arguments.

If we want to restore the dynamically changed parameters, we can use matplotlib.rcdefaults() call to restore the standard matplotlib settings.

The following two code samples illustrate previously explained behaviors:

Example for matplotlib.rcParams:

import matplotlib as mp
mpl.rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = 2
mpl.rcParams['lines.color'] = 'r'

Example for the matplotlib.rc() call:

import matplotlib as mpl
mpl.rc('lines', linewidth=2, color='r')

Both examples are semantically the same. In the second sample, we define that all subsequent plots will have lines with line width of 2 points. The last statement of the previous code defines that the color of every line following this statement will be red, unless we override it by local settings. See the following example:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

t = np.arange(0.0, 1.0, 0.01)

s = np.sin(2 * np.pi * t)
# make line red
plt.rcParams['lines.color'] = 'r'
plt.plot(t,s)

c = np.cos(2 * np.pi * t)
# make line thick
plt.rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = '3
plt.plot(t,c)

plt.show()

How it works...

First, we import matplotlib.pyplot and NumPy to allow us to draw sine and cosine graphs. Before plotting the first graph, we explicitly set line color to red using plt.rcParams['lines.color'] = 'r'.

Next, we go to the second graph (cosine function), and explicitly set line width to 3 points using plt.rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = '3'.

If we want to reset specific settings, we should call matplotlib.rcdefaults().

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