Matt, Yes, I agree. I wasn't coming at so much from the goal of making Pylab a Matlab clone (as you point out, that's silly, and misses much of the advantage of Python), but rather from the goal of making interactive use as efficient as possible. When I fire up ipython -pylab to do some quick exploration, it's nice not to have to type N.blah or pylab.plot etc. If I just import pylab *, however, then the commands I use may not be what I expect from more formal coding where I use N.blah numpy, S.foo for scipy, and pylab.bar for matplotlib. Making it easy for users to have either namespace strategy, with consistent bindings, ala the start of this thread is a good idea, IMO.
Well, I've said my piece. I'll get out of the way and let others have a crack... Barry On 2/18/07, Matthew Brett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > > import plab > > > > plab.plot() #etc. > > > > and interactive use could do from plab import *. > > Yes... It's a hard call of course. I am a long term matlab user, and > switched to python relatively recently. I do see the attraction of > persuading people that you can get something very similar to matlab > easily. The downside about making numpy / python like matlab is that > you soon realize that you really have to think about your problems > differently, and write code in a different way. I know that's > obvious, but the variables as pointers, mutable / immutable types, > zero based indexing, arrays vs matrices are all (fruitful) stumbling > blocks. Then there is the very large change of thinking in an OO way, > pulling in other large packages for doing other tasks, writing > well-structured code with tests - all the features that python gives > you for an industrial strength code base. And, the more pylab looks > like matlab, the more surprised and confused people will be when they > switch. So, I would argue that getting as close to matlab as > possible should not be the unqualified goal here - it is a real > change, with real pain, but great benefits. > > Best, > > Matthew > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT > Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your > opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash > http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV > _______________________________________________ > Matplotlib-users mailing list > Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV _______________________________________________ Matplotlib-users mailing list Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users
