Essentials of Data Visualization with Python Matplotlib (I): Basic Concepts and Process

From this article, I will start to talk about plotting with Python Matplotlib library with the following three parts:

Part I: Basic Concepts and Process
Part II: The MATLAB-style Interface
Part III: The Object-oriented Interface

1. Python Plotting Libraries

There are many data visualization libraries in Python, but here I only list some of the well-know ones as follows.

• Matplotlib: a popular and comprehensive open source library to create static, animated, and interactive visualizations in Python.
• Seaborn:a Python data visualization library based on Matplotlib. It provides a high-level interface for creating attractive and informative statistical graphics.
• Bokeh: a Python library for creating interactive visualizations for modern web browsers. With Bokeh, you can create JavaScript-powered visualizations without writing any JavaScript.
• Altair: a declarative statistical visualization library for Python, built on top of the powerful Vega-Lite visualization grammar, which enables you to produce beautiful and effective visualizations with a minimal amount of code.
• Plotly:an interactive, open-source, and…