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Learning Python Data
Visualization
Master how to build dynamic HTML5-ready SVG charts
using Python and the pygal library
Chad Adams
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
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Learning Python Data Visualization
Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing
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First published: August 2014
Production reference: 1180814
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-78355-333-4
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Cover image by Sabine Mehlstäubl (sabine@blumen-schmidl.de)
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Credits
Author Project Coordinator
Chad Adams Neha Thakur
Reviewers Proofreaders
Aniket Maithani Simran Bhogal
Atmaram Shetye Maria Gould
Giuseppe Vettigli Ameesha Green
Ron Zacharski
Indexers
Hemangini Bari
Commissioning Editor
Akram Hussain Tejal Soni
Priya Subramani
Acquisition Editor
Joanne Fitzpatrick
Production Coordinator
Shantanu Zagade
Content Development Editor
Parita Khedekar
Cover Work
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Technical Editor
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Copy Editors
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About the Author
Chad Adams is a web and mobile software developer based in Raymore,
Missouri, where he works as a mobile frontend architect creating visually appealing
application software for iOS, Windows Phone, and the Web. He also creates project
build systems for large development teams using programming languages such
as Python and C#. He has a B.F.A. in Commercial Art and a Microsoft certification
in HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3. He has also spoken at conferences on topics that
include Windows Phone development and Google Dart. In his off hours, Chad
enjoys relaxing at his home and spending time with his wife, Heather, and son, Leo.
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About the Reviewers
Aniket Maithani is a budding engineer and is currently pursuing a B.Tech
in Computer Science and Engineering from Amity University. He is primarily
interested in contributing to open source projects and believes in the FOSS/FLOSS
ideology. He has been working in the field of embedded systems and open
hardware for the last two years. Apart from coding and hacking around with
regular stuff, he loves to play the guitar and write on his blog. He can be reached
at me@aniketmaithani.net.
There are a few people I would like to thank for helping me out.
Firstly, my dad, who introduced me to the world of computers!
Also, I would like to thank my professor Mr. Manoj Baliyan and my
senior Mr. Anuvrat Parashar, who introduced me to the world of
Python and its awesomeness. I would also like to thank my mentor,
Satyakaam Goswami for always guiding me. Lastly, God Almighty
for his kind grace and blessings.
Atmaram Shetye is a Computer Science and Engineering Graduate from Goa
University. Having worked in a variety of companies, from start-ups to large
multinational enterprises, he is a strong supporter of polyglot programming. He
has spent most of his time programming in Python, while also using C, Objective-C,
C++, and JavaScript at work. His areas of interest include artificial intelligence and
machine learning. He is currently working as a Principal Software Engineer at CA
Technologies, Bangalore.
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Giuseppe Vettigli is a data scientist who has worked in the research industry
and academia for many years. His work is focused on the development of machine
learning models and applications to utilize information from structured and
unstructured data. He also writes about scientific computing and data visualization
in Python on his blog at http://glowingpython.blogspot.com.
Ron Zacharski completed a PhD in Computer Science at the University of
Minnesota, focusing on artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. He
is the author of the free online Python-based book, A Programmer's Guide to Data
Mining: The Ancient Art of the Numerati (http://www.guidetodatamining.com).
He is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Mary
Washington. Ron is a novice Zen Buddhist monk.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Development Environment 7
Introduction 7
Setting up Python on Windows 7
Installation 9
Exploring the Python installation in Windows 15
Python editors 20
Setting up Python on Mac OS X 25
Setting up Python on Ubuntu 31
Summary 34
Chapter 2: Python Refresher 35
Python basics 35
Importing modules and libraries 40
Input and output 42
Generating an image 45
Creating SVG graphics using svgwrite 48
For Windows users using VSPT 48
For Eclipse or other editors on Windows 50
For Eclipse on Mac and Linux 50
Summary 59
Chapter 3: Getting Started with pygal 61
Why use pygal? 61
Installing pygal using pip 64
Installing pygal using Python Tools for Visual Studio 66
Building a line chart 67
Stacked line charts 69
Simple bar charts 71
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