Graphics solution for Julia based on matploblib, mainly the pyplot module.

The Julia community seems to be having a discussion over which approach should be used as the default graphics solution [1] [2], and it may take a longer time for a mature solution to emerge. I just cannot wait that long, so I started my own.

require("pyplot")
using pyplot

# create new figure
figure()

# generate data
r = linspace(0, pi, 301)
theta = 2 * pi * x

# plot
polar(theta, x)
savefig("demo.png")

• Julia: recent versions (> 2013-01-10) may be needed.
• zmq: version 2.x only due to ZMQ.jl
• daemon
• ipython + matplotlib + pyzmq
• patience :)

In julia session, install module dependencies by

require("Pkg")
Pkg.add("ZMQ")

Install this module by

git clone https://github.com/autozimu/pyplot.jl ~/.julia/pyplot

Now in julia session,

require("pyplot")
pyplot.figure()

If matplotlib window opened up, then it should be a successful installation.

Mostly, the function signature is the same as calling pyplot in python / ipython, except some semantic differences due to Julia's reluctance to support kwargs:

• kwargs: use :color, "red" for color="red"
• escaping characters: use \\n for \n

Demo should be enough for elementary and medium usage.

If any questions or comments, feel free to contact [email protected].