Scripting gnuplot with Python

In this recipe, we turn to the scripting language Python. This high-level language is well suited to the interactive exploration of data and the rapid development of programs for its analysis. This facility is made even stronger by its extension library numpy, which adds a rich set of efficient, C-coded routines for manipulating numerical arrays. In addition, there are several ways to make plots directly from Python. In this recipe we introduce Python's gnuplot interface, gnuplot.py.

Getting ready

You will need an installation of Python and its numerical library numpy, which comes with several popular scientific Python packages. You also need gnuplot.py, which you also may already have if you are doing scientific work with Python. If not, you can download it from its official Sourceforge site at http://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/.

How to do it…

Run the following code by typing python file.py, substituting the name of the Python script for file (the included sample...