matplotlib is sweet. Head and shoulders above gnuplot in my experience, better integrated with python and numarray, more powerful, more flexible, better looking. I've used both and I thought there was no comparison. On the other hand, matplotlib can have a bit of a learning curve if you're not experienced with Matlab (I'm not). One thing I found confusing at first was the parallel APIs, one procedural which emulates Matlab syntax and relies heavily on side effects, and one object oriented. The Matlab syntax bugged the hell out of me so I just don't use it. Another possible drawback of matplotlib is that it's under active development so there are occasional API changes and bugs. In my opinion pytables is ill suited for a financial time series database. If you're curious there are other threads where this is discussed ad nauseum. I think everyone would agree that Python offers a wide range of options for persistence, from pickle to shelve to Berkeley DB to SQL to pytables and more, enough to make anyone happy. Martin
I use Chart Director: http://www.advsofteng.com/product.html has a good financial charting llibrary and free for personal use
Hi all, For those interested in giving Qt / PyQt a try in linux. Install KDE, everything you need will be there. BTW, you can keep Gnome as your first choice GUI and install KDE next to it. That's how I do it. I prefer eric3 as Python IDE. eric3 should be running immediately if you do the above. As pointed out before, the choice of a Python IDE is a very personal one. As I have quite a bit of multithreaded code, I like the ability of eric3 to do breakpoints in multithreaded. Although things could still be improved here, it's the best I found yet. I like dcraig's answer about Python speed of development versus execution speed. Many don't have the foggiest notion about the realities in these matters. After all, programming is an art. Ref: "The Art of Computer Programming" by D.Knuth. About Python, read about how Google grew up with Python. nono