Logging and plotting data

Now that we are able to sample and collect a lot of data, it is important that we can capture and analyze it. We will make use of a Python library called matplotlib, which includes lots of useful tools for manipulating, graphing, and analyzing data. We will use pyplot (which is a part of matplotlib) to produce graphs of our captured data. For more information on pyplot, go to http://matplotlib.org/users/pyplot_tutorial.html.

Getting ready

To use pyplot, we will need to install matplotlib.

Note

Due to a problem with the matplotlib installer, performing the installation using pip-3.2 doesn't always work correctly. The method that follows will overcome this problem by performing all the steps PIP does manually; however, this can take over 30 minutes to complete.

To save time, you can try the PIP installation, which is much quicker. If it doesn't work, you can install it using this manual method.

Try installing matplotlib using PIP with the following commands:

sudo apt-get...