Various python/numpy/matplotlib/scipy tricks

python_numpy_tricks.py

# plot histogram with logscale in the x-axis
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
def plot_loghist(x, bins=30, **hist_kwargs):
    hist, bins = np.histogram(x, bins=bins)
    logbins = np.logspace(np.log10(bins[0]),np.log10(bins[-1]),len(bins))
    plt.hist(x, bins=logbins, **hist_kwargs)
    plt.xscale('log')

# silencing loud third-party library
# usage:
# >>> with silence():
# ...     noisy_func()
import os
class silence:
    def __enter__(self):
        devnull = open('/dev/null', 'w')
        oldstdout_fno = os.dup(sys.stdout.fileno())
        os.dup2(devnull.fileno(), 1)

    def __exit__(self, type, value, traceback):
        os.dup2(oldstdout_fno, 1)