Matplotlib helpers to draw well-defined boxes on plots, and to sequentially connect a set of points with line segments.

JoinPointsMPL.py

def drawBox(xlim, ylim):
    """
    provide xlim = [xmin, xmax] and ylim = [ymin, ymax]
    returns vectors x, y, which when plotted draw a box connecting the endpoints
    """
    pts = [[xlim[0], ylim[0]], [xlim[1], ylim[0]], [xlim[1], ylim[1]], [xlim[0], ylim[1]], [xlim[0], ylim[0]]]
    x, y = zip(*pts)
    return x, y

def connectPoints(pts):
    """pts = list of a bunch of points
       returns two vectors x, y, which when plotted plot(x,y) joins the dots
       eg. pts = [[0,0], [1, 0], [1, 1], [0,1], [0, 0]]"""
    x, y = zip(*pts)
    return x, y

# draw box
x, y = drawBox(xlim=[0,1], ylim=[0,1])
plt.plot(x,y)

# connect some points
x, y = connectPoints([[0.1, 0.2], [0.3, 0.3], [0.1, 0.3] ])
plt.plot(x,y)
plt.show()