You know, if you're already on the command line, gnuplot and github already provide ~similar functionality. I can do the same in ~the same number of keystrokes if things are aliased properly. Also, keeping things local is nice.
Ahh cool, i see the attraction. I went through a phase of using the google chart API instead of GNUplot (you just wget a URL piping your data). Coupled with a big bash history it works fairly well.<p>I've learned enough R to be dangerous. Ggplot2 looks gorgeous without trying. It's my current favourite torch for shining on perf and capacity issues (I dream of one day identifying a perf issues root cause with nothing more than the correlation function!)
It looks nice.<p>If you're looking for an open alternative there is <a href="https://github.com/mikedewar/d3py" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mikedewar/d3py</a> which plays very well numpy/pandas.
I use ggplot2 all day baby. <a href="http://had.co.nz/ggplot2/" rel="nofollow">http://had.co.nz/ggplot2/</a><p>It has a bit of learning curve but its an extremely flexible way to quickly visualize data in a lot of different ways to get a feel for what's going on in your dataset (you should probably already have some R familiarity, the language has its idiosyncrasies).
Not that it really matters, but<p><pre><code> chartulous < data.csv
</code></pre>
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At least from my perspective, a major problem is maintaining control of your information. How does Chartulo.us store the data? Where? Can it be removed immediately post retrieval?
I would much prefer generating the graph locally and then uploading to the service - it's very rare that graphs I generate need to be shared rather than embedded in a paper.
another option/alternative is to use matplotlib, which is ideally integrated with ipython notebooks <a href="http://ipython.org/" rel="nofollow">http://ipython.org/</a>, well worth a look if anyone's interested.. their integration with numpy/pandas etc is superb.. and on top of all the benefits of plotting with matplotlib, you get ipython and all its features for free... for example <a href="http://imgur.com/Le8px" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/Le8px</a>
The animation of the command line is a little annoying because it has all this cruft of the package installer messages. I got bored half way through and missed and had to replay. Just put the two command lines there and be done with it. :)