Computing with Data

Graphing Data in Python

Despite the fact that R has excellent graphics capabilities, it's sometimes desirable to graph data in another programming language. For example, when the entire data analysis process is in Python, it may make sense to graph the data within Python as well. Below and in the rest of this chapter, we explore matplotlib — a popular Python module for graphing data.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Working with figures in matplotlib
f1 = plt.figure()  # open a figure
f2 = plt.figure()  # open a second figure
plt.savefig('f2.pdf')  # save fig 2 - the active figure
plt.close(f2)
plt.savefig('f1.pdf')  # save fig 2 - the active figure
plt.close(f1)