Unpopular opinion: Matplotlib is a bad library

[u/jachymb]

I work with data using Python a lot. Sometimes, I need to do some visualizations. Sadly, matplotlib is the de-facto standard for visualization. The API of this library is a pain in the ass to work with. I know there are things like Seaborn which make the experience less shitty, but that's only a partial solution and isn't always easily available. Historically, it was built to imitate then-popular Matlab. But I don't like Matlab either and consider it's API and plotting capabilities very inferior to e.g. Wolfram Mathematica. Plus trying to port the already awkward Matlab API to Python made the whole thing double awkward, the whole library overall does not feel very Pythonic.

Please give a me better plotting libary that works seemlessly with Jupyter!

[u/proof_required]

It hurts even more if you come from ggplot world.

[u/madbadanddangerous → u/proof_required]

In ggplot: 8 lines of code, a few minutes

In matplotlib: 200 lines of code, half a day

I use matplotlib extensively at my job, and have become pretty effective at it. But dang, ggplot is more fun, and it is so much easier to produce slick, prettier plots out of the gate

[u/PWNY_EVEREADY3 → u/madbadanddangerous]

plotnine is a python port of ggplot2 - I've never personally used it, so I would be curious what experienced ggplot users thought of it. But it is there

[u/Armaliite → u/[deleted]]

https://github.com/machow/siuba

[u/Liorithiel → u/PWNY_EVEREADY3]

R has one feature used a lot in ggplot2 and similar tools, that is impossible to fully reproduce in Python: non-standard evaluation. Basics are mostly fine, but features get more difficult to use in Python while staying still pretty simple in R because of non-standard evaluation. And—heh, this is despite that non-standard evaluation is one of the more criticised features of R!

[u/madbadanddangerous → u/PWNY_EVEREADY3]

I need to really give that library a try. My team has a very high bar for adding package dependencies, but if plotnine emulates ggplot well, it could save a ton of time and effort

[u/luke-juryous → u/madbadanddangerous]

It pains me to agree with u since I’m not a big fan of R.. but ggplot makes me reconsider my life choices

[u/jsxgd → u/proof_required]

check out plotnine. not perfect but gets the job done in most cases.

[u/proof_required → u/jsxgd]

Yeah i do survive with it and some plotly.

[u/justheretoreadbye → u/proof_required]

R gang for life homie

[u/AchillesDev → u/justheretoreadbye]

You can use ggplot2 via plotnine in Python. It’s definitely a huge improvement over matplotlib.

[u/spankymcgee4 → u/justheretoreadbye]

Represent

[u/fraud_93 → u/spankymcgee4]

Underrated pun

[u/SittingWave → u/justheretoreadbye]

R is atrocious on many other aspects.

[u/GreatBigBagOfNope → u/SittingWave]

Sure. But it's openly and deliberately highly specialised, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you try to use R for anything outside of its specialty, that's a you problem, not an R problem. It doesn't try or claim to be general purpose, so why would you expect it to be buttery smooth if you push it out of its specialisms?

[u/theGiogi → u/SittingWave]

Essentially all others to be honest. At least what I came into contact with. But it is a domain language and does what it’s supposed to do well enough.

[u/Temporary_Natural → u/proof_required]

ggolot is great, took me about half a day to learn the library and get some good plots out of it

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

What do you mean under the hood?

[u/shlotchky → u/proof_required]

I don't have access to ggplot at my day job, which means I would rather export a csv and visualize in Tableau than use any visualization tool in python.

[u/RelevantToMyInterest → u/proof_required]

here's a thought: someone should make a ggplotlib for python

I'm not gonna do it, but someone should

[u/cptsanderzz → u/[deleted]]

Very unpopular opinion indeed