matplotlib#

  • Series: lecture-python-programming

  • File: lectures/matplotlib.md

  • Audit date: 2026-05-28

  • Categories audited: writing, math, code, figures, references, links, admonitions (JAX out of scope)

  • Overall score: 7.0 / 10

  • Priority: HIGH

Score breakdown#

Category

Score

One-line note

Writing

7/10

Heading Title Case is pervasive; otherwise good prose.

Math

N/A

Only y = sin(x) label decorations.

Code

7/10

Only Anaconda packages; Greek unicode (θ) used in solution; teaches figsize, set_title, rcParams overrides — pedagogically necessary but conflicts with figure rules elsewhere; mixes from random import uniform with NumPy.

JAX

out of scope

—

Figures

4/10

This is a Matplotlib tutorial, so qe-fig-003 (ax.set_title('Test plot') at line 137; plt.suptitle(f'Style: {style_name}', ...) at line 317), qe-fig-001 (figsize=(10, 12) line 183; figsize=(10, 6) line 213; figsize=(10, 3) line 289; figure.figsize set in rcParams line 392), and qe-fig-009 are all demonstrated on purpose. Even so, the lecture does not explicitly call out that these are anti-patterns elsewhere.

References

N/A

No citations.

Links

9/10

Only external doc links; no improper cross-series URLs.

Admonitions

8/10

{exercise-start} / {solution-start} pair correctly gated; :class: dropdown; {note} admonition used; one {image} inside the exercise body (qe-fig-011 compliant).

Issues#

Critical#

None found.

High severity#

  • [qe-writing-006] — Section headings systematically use Title Case. Examples: line 38 ### Matplotlib's Split Personality, line 50 ## The APIs, line 55 ### The MATLAB-style API, line 78 ### The Object-Oriented API, line 99 ### Tweaks, line 141 ## More Features, line 148 ### Multiple Plots on One Axis, line 172 ### Multiple Subplots, line 194 ### 3D Plots, line 226 ### A Customizing Function, line 265 ### Style Sheets, line 439 ## Further Reading, line 447 ## Exercises. Count: 13 occurrences.

  • [qe-fig-003] — Embedded titles in matplotlib figures. Examples: line 137 ax.set_title('Test plot'), line 317 plt.suptitle(f'Style: {style_name}', fontsize=13). Context: this is a Matplotlib teaching lecture, so titles are part of the exposition — arguably an instructional exception, but they should be flagged or the demos converted to use figure-directive titles.

  • [qe-fig-001] — Multiple explicit figsize values (lines 183, 213, 289, 392). Same caveat as above: this lecture explicitly teaches how to use these knobs.

Medium severity#

  • [qe-fig-005] — No name: metadata on any of the code-generated figures.

Low severity#

  • [qe-writing-001] — A few descriptive paragraphs combine clauses (e.g., lines 88–91 enumeration could be condensed).

  • [qe-code-001] — from random import uniform (line 159) is used alongside numpy code; idiomatic in matplotlib examples but mixes RNG sources.

Strengths#

  • Lecture title uses {index} role with proper case per qe-writing-006.

  • Clean MyST roles and code-cells.

  • One-sentence paragraphs are the dominant style.

  • The exercise uses {image} (not {figure}) inside the gated exercise-start/exercise-end block per qe-fig-011.

  • Greek unicode (θ) used in the exercise solution per qe-code-002.