MEP8: PEP8

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Status

**Discussion**

Branches and Pull requests

None so far.

Abstract

The matplotlib codebase predates PEP8, and therefore is less than

consistent style-wise in some areas. Bringing the codebase into

compliance with PEP8 would go a long way to improving its legibility.

Detailed description

Some files use four space indentation, some use three. Some use

different levels in the same file.

For the most part, class/function/variable naming follows PEP8, but it

wouldn't hurt to fix where necessary.

Implementation

The implementation should be fairly mechanical: running the pep8 tool

over the code and fixing where appropriate.

This should be merged in after the 2.0 release, since the changes will

likely make merging any pending pull requests more difficult.

Additionally, and optionally, PEP8 compliance could be tracked by an

automated build system.

Backward compatibility

Public names of classes and functions that require change (there

shouldn't be many of these) should first be deprecated and then

removed in the next release cycle.

Alternatives

PEP8 is a popular standard for Python code style, blessed by the

Python core developers, making any alternatives less desirable.