Numpy, scipy, matplotlib, and pylab are common terms among they who use python for scientific computation.
I just learn a bit about pylab, and I got confused. Whenever I want to import numpy, I can always do:
import numpy as np
I just consider, that once I do
from pylab import *
the numpy will be imported as well (with np
alias). So basically the second one does more things compared to the first one.
There are few things I want to ask:
No, pylab
is part of matplotlib
(in matplotlib.pylab
) and tries to give you a MatLab like environment. matplotlib
has a number of dependencies, among them numpy
which it imports under the common alias np
. scipy
is not a dependency of matplotlib
.
If you run ipython --pylab
an automatic import will put all symbols from matplotlib.pylab
into global scope. Like you wrote numpy
gets imported under the np
alias. Symbols from matplotlib
are available under the mpl
alias.