What is the simplest python code to plot a simple graph (simpler than matlab)

Question

If I want to draw a y=x^2 graph from 0 to 9 in matlab, I can do

a = [0:1:10]
b = a.^2
plot(a,b)

Using python, I can do the same like below

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

a=[x for x in xrange(10)]
b=np.square(a)
plt.plot(a,b)
plt.show()

But to the contrary to my belief that python code is simpler, this takes more lines that matlab. (I guess python tries to make things light weight, so we need to import things when we actually need something, hence more lines..) Can I make above python code simpler(I mean shorter)?

EDIT : I know it doesn't matter and meaningless when it comes to processing time but I was just curious how short the code can become.

IMO, simple code may not necessarily mean shorter code.... in your case, I wouldn't have been surprised if python code was longer than matlab, matlab is made specifically for this function but not python. — Moon Cheesez
– Moon Cheesez, Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 6:17
The only real reason your code is longer is because you have to import libraries. You only have to do this once for each file where you want to plot. There's not much use in worrying about such lines. Aside from that, your code is one line longer than matlab. (Aside from that, counting lines is not a great way to measure simplicity, especially in trivial examples like this.) — BrenBarn
– BrenBarn, Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 6:24
yeah, I understand what you mean and totally agree. I added to the question :) — Chan Kim
– Chan Kim, Commented Aug 14, 2016 at 6:44
This is a reasonable question : point out a more concise approach (than the boilerplate python) and ask if python can do something similar. — WestCoastProjects
– WestCoastProjects, Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 23:39

6502 · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-01 14:09:27Z

10

This is a bit simpler

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

X = range(10)
plt.plot(X, [x*x for x in X])
plt.show()

but remember that Python is a general purpose language, so it's not surprising it requires a bit more than a specific charting/math tool.

The main clutter is importing the libraries that help about chart plotting and numeric computation, as this is implied for matlab (a tool designed around that).

These lines are however needed only once: they're not a factor, but just an additive constant, going to be negligible even in just slightly more serious examples.

edited Apr 1, 2019 at 14:09

answered Aug 14, 2016 at 6:24

6502

115k17 gold badges177 silver badges277 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Chan Kim Over a year ago

yeah, I totally understand. I was just curious how short it can get.

WestCoastProjects Over a year ago

Doing the imports in python does not just magically go away: it's always a bit of a tax.

nda Over a year ago

For a scatterplot replace plt.plot( with plt.scatter(

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

What is the simplest python code to plot a simple graph (simpler than matlab)

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related