[Matplotlib-devel] Documentation

[Matt Arcidy]

I agree, though I'm curious if we still can't get one entry point which
then fans out.  very basic, pyplot.plot() even.  more about plotting than
python, matplotlib, math, geometry, etc.

I bet I can hack the Sphinx script to pull all imported/used modules and
functions except built -ins.  The examples/tutorials can be tagged with
"requires/suggests knowing..." any non-matplotlib function.

People then filter based on matplotlib tags of what they need to learn and
select the examples that fit based on the python they are familiar with.

theoretically I can mock this up.

Before doing too much more, I would love to hear any dissenting opinions or
even explicit support.  I have been involved in too many projects that
ended in a bridge to nowhere.  I'll ask on gitter too.

I definitely want to talk about surveying, I think no matter what that is
required.

On Tue, Feb 13, 2018, 08:12 Chris Barker - NOAA Federal <
chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote:

>
> I agree that you can't get very far in Python without it, but it still
> majorly confuses the audiences I work with. Quite literally, the
> demarcation my fellowship makes between the Python 101 and 201 we teach is
> how explicitly we go into using objects. So I think an intro should provide
> at least a soft explanation of methods/objects/etc.
>
>
> THIS is maybe the core issue— are we introducing people to matplotlib, or
> to the python language via matplotlib. Indeed, to programming itself?
>
> Each of these requires a different type of introduction.
>
> Maybe multiple entry points:
>
> - Know Basic Python?
> - Know another programming language?
> - New to programming?
>
> Personally, I think it’s “better” to learn the basics of Python first, and
> then introduce the scipy stack, but the reality is that people have work to
> accomplish, and it’s often best to learn by solving a problem that
> interests you — so we should support that.
>
>  they're all pyplot,
>>
>>
> The challenge with pyplot is the learning curve — it’s great to able to
> simply start with:
>
> plot(x, y)
>
>
>
> but that seems to be the preferred intro-and I wonder if it'd be good for
>> matplotlib to have more bridge documentation that doesn't just show how to
>> do things both ways but explains why the OO way is better.
>>
>>
>> Yup. And I don’t think pyplot is any easier for newbies—other than
>> existing Matlab users — admittedly a big group.
>>
>
> It is and it isn't. While it's technically still OO, I think it ends up
> feeling weirdly declarative just keep layering these things (kinda like
> ggplot), rather than the explicit here's an axis and attach information to
> it. It seems like a super trivial distinction but I think it may be a
> barrier for some people (also why I think a survey could be good here.)
>
>
>> I say introduce the OO interface, then have a “matplotlib for Matlab
>> users” section to translate for them.
>>
> I like this approach too.
>
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