PyCon.DE 2018: Grammar Of Graphics In Python - Malte Harder

A grammar is, according to Wikipedia, the set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. A grammar of graphics is then the set of structural rules governing the composition of visual elements. Transforming data into visual representations using composition is quite powerful and allows to create complex visualisations with simple building blocks.

While the ideas behind the grammar of graphics date back well into the 80s, as a Python developer it is only quite recently that we can make use of it. Altair, backed by the vega specification, is one of the few plotting libraries in Python that provide such a declarative and compositional API.

In this talk I will give an introduction to the core concepts behind the grammar of graphics as well as practical examples how to use altair API in Python to create vega plots.