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unittest VS Matplotlib

Compare unittest VS Matplotlib and see what are their differences

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Testing Frameworks

Matplotlib logo Matplotlib

matplotlib is a python 2D plotting library which produces publication quality figures in a variety...
  • unittest Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-19
  • Matplotlib Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14

unittest features and specs

  • Standard Library Integration
    Unittest is part of the Python Standard Library, which means it is included with every standard Python installation. This makes it easily accessible and eliminates the need for additional dependencies.
  • Discoverability
    Unittest automatically discovers tests, which makes it simpler to organize and run a large suite of tests.
  • Test Suite Management
    It provides powerful mechanisms for structuring test cases, including test suites, test cases inheritance, and grouping of tests, allowing for better organization.
  • Compatibility with Other Testing Frameworks
    Unittest is compatible with test runners from other testing frameworks like pytest, providing flexibility and integration with more advanced features if needed.
  • Setup and Teardown Facilities
    It provides built-in setup and teardown methods with setUp(), tearDown(), setUpClass(), and tearDownClass(), which help in preparing the environment before tests and cleaning up afterward.

Possible disadvantages of unittest

  • Verbose Syntax
    The syntax for writing tests in unittest can be more verbose compared to some other testing frameworks, like pytest, which may lead to more boilerplate code.
  • Less Expressive Assertions
    Unittest comes with a set of built-in assertions that are sometimes not as expressive or convenient as those provided by other testing libraries like pytest.
  • Limited Fixtures Flexibility
    While unittest provides basic setUp and tearDown methods, it lacks more sophisticated fixtures that other frameworks like pytest offer, which can lead to less flexible test setups.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    For beginners, unittest can have a steeper learning curve compared to simpler or more modern testing frameworks, mainly due to its structure and the amount of boilerplate.

Matplotlib features and specs

  • Versatility
    Matplotlib can generate a wide variety of plots, ranging from simple line plots to complex 3D plots. This versatility makes it a go-to library for many scientific and technical visualizations.
  • Customization
    It offers extensive customization options for virtually every element of a plot, including colors, labels, line styles, and more, allowing users to tailor plots to meet specific needs.
  • Integrations
    Matplotlib integrates well with other Python libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, and SciPy, making it easier to plot data directly from these sources.
  • Community and Documentation
    It has a large, active community and comprehensive documentation that includes tutorials, examples, and detailed references, which can help users solve problems and improve their plot-making skills.
  • Interactivity
    Matplotlib supports interactive plots, which can be embedded in Jupyter notebooks and GUIs, allowing for dynamic data exploration and presentation.
  • Publication-Quality
    The library is capable of producing high-quality, publication-ready graphics that meet the stringent requirements of academic journals and professional presentations.

Possible disadvantages of Matplotlib

  • Complexity
    While Matplotlib offers extensive customization, it can be complex and sometimes unintuitive for beginners, requiring a steep learning curve to master all its functionality.
  • Performance
    Rendering a large number of plots or handling very large datasets can be slow, making Matplotlib less suitable for real-time data visualization.
  • Modern Aesthetics
    Out-of-the-box plots from Matplotlib can look somewhat dated compared to those from newer plotting libraries like Seaborn or Plotly, requiring additional customization to achieve a modern look.
  • 3D Plots
    Although Matplotlib supports 3D plotting, its capabilities are relatively limited and less sophisticated compared to specialized 3D plotting libraries.
  • Size and Structure
    The package is relatively large and can be slow to import. Its extensive structure can make finding specific functions and understanding the overall architecture challenging.

Analysis of Matplotlib

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Matplotlib is a good library for data visualization, particularly for users who require a versatile and powerful plotting solution in Python.

Why this product is good

  • Matplotlib is highly regarded due to its extensive customization options, versatility in creating a wide range of static, animated, and interactive plots, and its large user community and support. It integrates well with other scientific libraries in Python, making it a staple for data visualization. The library is also open-source and frequently updated, ensuring it remains a reliable choice for users.

Recommended for

  • Data scientists and analysts needing to create detailed, customized visual representations of their data.
  • Researchers and engineers looking for a comprehensive plotting library that supports scientific and engineering formats.
  • Python developers who require integration with other scientific computing libraries like NumPy and Pandas.

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Matplotlib videos

Learn Matplotlib in 6 minutes | Matplotlib Python Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to unittest and Matplotlib)
Automated Testing
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Technical Computing
0 0%
100% 100
Testing
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Data Science And Machine Learning

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare unittest and Matplotlib

unittest Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
nose2 extends the built-in unittest library and provides a more powerful and flexible way to write and run tests. Itโ€™s an extensible tool, so you can use multiple built-in and third-party plugins to your advantage.
Source: kinsta.com

Matplotlib Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
Matplotlib is a widely used tool for data visualization in Python. It provides an object-oriented API for embedding plots into applications.
Source: kinsta.com
5 Best Python Libraries For Data Visualization in 2023
You can use this library for multiple purposes such as generating plots, bar charts, histograms, power spectra, stemplots, pie charts, and more. The best thing about Matplotlib is you just have to write a few lines of code and it handles the rest by itself. Metaplotilib focuses on static images for publication along with interactive figures using toolkits like Qt and GTK.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Matplotlib is an open source Python plotting library that's used to read, import and visualize data in analytics applications. Data scientists and other users can create static, animated and interactive data visualizations with Matplotlib, using it in Python scripts, the Python and IPython shells, Jupyter Notebook, web application servers and various GUI toolkits.
Top Python Libraries For Image Processing In 2021
Matplotlib is primarily used for 2D visualizations such as scatter plots, bar graphs, histograms, and many more, but we can also use it for image processing. It is effective to get information out of an image. It doesnโ€™t support all file formats.
Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Visualization
Matplotlib is a data visualization library and 2-D plotting library of Python It was initially released in 2003 and it is the most popular and widely-used plotting library in the Python community. It comes with an interactive environment across multiple platforms. Matplotlib can be used in Python scripts, the Python and IPython shells, the Jupyter notebook, web application...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Matplotlib should be more popular than unittest. It has been mentiond 110 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

unittest mentions (63)

  • Building a serverless GenAI API with FastAPI, AWS, and CircleCI
    Testing and validating the API is crucial to ensure it is functioning correctly before deploying it. Below are several tests using pytest and unittest packages. The unit tests check if the app runs locally and in AWS Lambda, ensuring that requests work in both setups. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Using Selenium Webdriver with Python's unittest framework
    In this tutorial, we'll be going over how to use Selenium Webdriver with Python's unittest framework. We'll use webdriver-manager to automatically download and install the latest version of Chrome. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Asynchronous Server: Building and Rigorously Testing a WebSocket and HTTP Server
    The last part of our CI/CD was running tests and getting coverage reports. In the Python ecosystem, pytest is an extremely popular testing framework. Though very tempting and might still be used later on, we will stick with Python's built-in testing library, unittest, and use coverage for measuring code test coverage of our program. Let's start with the test setup:. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Enhance Your Project Quality with These Top Python Libraries
    Unittest is a built-in module of Python. Itโ€™s inspired by the xUnit framework architecture. This is a great tool to create and organise test cases in a systematic way. You can use unittest.mock with pytest when you need to create mock objects in your tests. The unittest.mock module is a powerful feature in Pythonโ€™s standard library for creating mock objects in your tests. It allows you to replace parts of your... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • An Introduction to Testing with Django for Python
    Unittest is Python's built-in testing framework. Django extends it with some of its own functionality. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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Matplotlib mentions (110)

  • Top 5 GitHub Repositories for Data Science in 2026
    The book introduces the core libraries essential for working with data in Python: particularly IPython, NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Scikit-Learn, and related packages Familiarity with Python as a language is assumed; if you need a quick introduction to the language itself, see the free companion project, Aโ€ฆ. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • Streamlit Chart Libraries Comparison: A Frontend Developer's Guide
    Matplotlib is Python's visualization standard:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Why Use Matplotlib for Data Visualization?
    Matplotlib is a foundational and incredibly versatile plotting library in Python, making it a go-to choice for many data scientists and analysts. While many data visualization libraries exist, Matplotlib offers some significant advantages that make it indispensable. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Python for Data Visualization: Best Tools and Practices
    Matplotlib is the backbone of Python data visualization. Itโ€™s a flexible, reliable library for creating static plots. Whether you're making simple bar charts or complex graphs, Matplotlib allows extensive customization. You can adjust nearly every aspect of a plot to suit your needs. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Build a Competitive Intelligence Tool Powered by AI
    Add data visualization to make it actionable for your business using pandas.pydata.org and matplotlib.org. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing unittest and Matplotlib, you can also consider the following products

pytest - Javascript Testing Framework

Pandas - Pandas is an open source library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python.

GnuPlot - Gnuplot is a portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility.

OSv - OSv is an open source project to build the best OS for cloud workloads

NumPy - NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python

Rumprun - The Rumprun unikernel and toolchain for various platforms - rumpkernel/rumprun