Matplotlib is a plotting library for the Python programming language and its numerical mathematics extension NumPy. It provides an object-oriented API for embedding plots into applications using general-purpose GUI toolkits like Tkinter, wxPython, Qt, or GTK. There is also a procedural "pylab" interface based on a state machine (like OpenGL), designed to closely resemble that of MATLAB, though its use is discouraged. SciPy makes use of Matplotlib. Matplotlib was originally written by John D. Hunter. Since then it has had an active development community and is distributed under a BSD-style license. Michael Droettboom was nominated as matplotlib's lead developer shortly before John Hunter's death in August 2012 and was further joined by Thomas Caswell. Matplotlib is a NumFOCUS fiscally sponsored project. Matplotlib 2.0.x supports Python versions 2.7 through 3.10. Python 3 support started with Matplotlib 1.2. Matplotlib 1.4 is the last version to support Python 2.6. Matplotlib has pledged not to support Python 2 past 2020 by signing the Python 3 Statement. Pyplot is a Matplotlib module that provides a MATLAB-like interface. Matplotlib is designed to be as usable as MATLAB, with the ability to use Python, and the advantage of being free and open-source. File:Synchrotron Functions.svg|Line plot File:Matplotlib histogram v.svg|Histogram File:Matplotlib scatter v.svg|Scatter plot File:Matplotlib 3d v.svg|3D plot File:Mpl example qbo.svg|Image plot File:Mpl example Helmoltz coils.svg|Contour plot File:Weight Growth of RN First Rate Line-of-Battle Ships 1630-1875.svg|Scatter plot File:Logarithmic Spiral Pylab.svg|Polar plot File:Temp-sunspot-co2.svg|Line plot File:Mpl example Rosenbrock function.svg|3-D plot File:Mandelbrot set, plotted with Matplotlib.svg|Image plot Several toolkits are available which extend Matplotlib functionality. Some are separate downloads, others ship with the Matplotlib source code but have external dependencies.