Matplotlib: Using the 'Dark_background' Style Sheet

Introduction

Matplotlib is a data visualization library used for creating static, animated, and interactive visualizations in Python. In this lab, we will learn how to use the 'dark_background' style sheet in Matplotlib to create plots with a dark background. The dark background style sheet is particularly useful for displaying visualizations that are easy on the eyes in low-light environments.

VM Tips

After the VM startup is done, click the top left corner to switch to the Notebook tab to access Jupyter Notebook for practice.

Sometimes, you may need to wait a few seconds for Jupyter Notebook to finish loading. The validation of operations cannot be automated because of limitations in Jupyter Notebook.

If you face issues during learning, feel free to ask Labby. Provide feedback after the session, and we will promptly resolve the problem for you.

Import Required Libraries

The first step is to import the required libraries. We will be using the Matplotlib library to create our visualizations and the NumPy library to generate some sample data.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

Set the 'dark_background' Style Sheet

The next step is to set the 'dark_background' style sheet using the plt.style.use() function. This will apply the dark background style to all plots that we create from this point onwards.

plt.style.use('dark_background')

Create Sample Data

In this step, we will generate some sample data to plot. We will create a sine wave with a wavelength of 6 units and plot it over the x-axis.

L = 6
x = np.linspace(0, L)

Plot the Data

In this step, we will plot the sample data that we generated in the previous step. We will use a for loop to plot multiple sine waves with different phases.

fig, ax = plt.subplots()

ncolors = len(plt.rcParams['axes.prop_cycle'])
shift = np.linspace(0, L, ncolors, endpoint=False)

for s in shift:
    ## Plot the sine wave with a phase shift of s
    ax.plot(x, np.sin(x + s), 'o-')

ax.set_xlabel('x-axis')
ax.set_ylabel('y-axis')
ax.set_title("'dark_background' style sheet")

plt.show()

Interpret the Plot

The plot that we created in the previous step is a sine wave with a dark background. The for loop plots multiple sine waves with different phases, which are shifted along the x-axis. The x-axis represents the values of the sine wave, while the y-axis represents the amplitude of the sine wave. The set_xlabel(), set_ylabel(), and set_title() functions are used to label the x-axis, y-axis, and title of the plot, respectively.

Summary

In this lab, we learned how to use the 'dark_background' style sheet in Matplotlib to create plots with a dark background. We also learned how to generate sample data using the NumPy library and plot the data using the Matplotlib library. We hope that this lab has provided you with a good understanding of how to use the 'dark_background' style sheet in Matplotlib and how to create visually appealing plots.