Minor polishing work, fixing typos and grammar in the faq.

WeatherGod · WeatherGod · commit fdc7c89999a6 · 2011-03-14T14:55:31.000-05:00
diff --git a/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst b/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ Plotting: howto
 
 .. _howto-findobj:
 
-Find all objects in figure of a certain type
--------------------------------------------------------------
+Find all objects in a figure of a certain type
+----------------------------------------------
 
 Every matplotlib artist (see :ref:`artist-tutorial`) has a method
 called :meth:`~matplotlib.artist.Artist.findobj` that can be used to
@@ -27,16 +27,16 @@ following snippet finds every object in the figure which has a
 `set_color` property and makes the object blue::
 
     def myfunc(x):
-	return hasattr(x, 'set_color')
+        return hasattr(x, 'set_color')
 
     for o in fig.findobj(myfunc):
-	o.set_color('blue')
+        o.set_color('blue')
 
 You can also filter on class instances::
 
     import matplotlib.text as text
     for o in fig.findobj(text.Text):
-	o.set_fontstyle('italic')
+        o.set_fontstyle('italic')
 
 
 .. _howto-transparent:
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ on individual elements, eg::
 
 .. _howto-multipage:
 
-Save multiple plots in one pdf file
+Save multiple plots to one pdf file
 -----------------------------------
 
 Many image file formats can only have one image per file, but some
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ the format::
 
     savefig(pp, format='pdf')
 
-A simpler way is to call
+An easier way is to call
 :meth:`PdfPages.savefig <matplotlib.backends.backend_pdf.PdfPages.savefig>`::
 
     pp.savefig()
@@ -144,8 +144,7 @@ specify the location explicitly::
     ax = fig.add_axes([left, bottom, width, height])
 
 where all values are in fractional (0 to 1) coordinates.  See
-`axes_demo.py <http://matplotlib.sf.net/examples/axes_demo.py>`_ for
-an example of placing axes manually.
+:ref:`pylab_examples-axes_demo` for an example of placing axes manually.
 
 .. _howto-auto-adjust:
 
@@ -174,8 +173,8 @@ connecting
 get the window extent there, and then do something with it, eg move
 the left of the canvas over; see :ref:`event-handling-tutorial`.
 
-Here is that gets a bounding box in relative figure coordinates (0..1)
-of each of the labels and uses it to move the left of the subplots
+Here is an example that gets a bounding box in relative figure coordinates
+(0..1) of each of the labels and uses it to move the left of the subplots
 over so that the tick labels fit in the figure
 
 .. plot:: pyplots/auto_subplots_adjust.py
@@ -250,8 +249,8 @@ to achieve the desired plot::
     ind = np.arange(N)  # the evenly spaced plot indices
 
     def format_date(x, pos=None):
-	thisind = np.clip(int(x+0.5), 0, N-1)
-	return r.date[thisind].strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
+        thisind = np.clip(int(x+0.5), 0, N-1)
+        return r.date[thisind].strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
 
     fig = plt.figure()
     ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
@@ -405,15 +404,15 @@ A frequent request is to have two scales for the left and right
 y-axis, which is possible using :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.twinx` (more
 than two scales are not currently supported, though it is on the wish
 list).  This works pretty well, though there are some quirks when you
-are trying to interactively pan and zoom, since both scales do not get
+are trying to interactively pan and zoom, because both scales do not get
 the signals.
 
-The approach :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.twinx` (and its sister
-:func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.twiny`) uses is to use *2 different axes*,
+The approach uses :func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.twinx` (and its sister
+:func:`~matplotlib.pyplot.twiny`) to use *2 different axes*,
 turning the axes rectangular frame off on the 2nd axes to keep it from
 obscuring the first, and manually setting the tick locs and labels as
 desired.  You can use separate matplotlib.ticker formatters and
-locators as desired since the two axes are independent::
+locators as desired because the two axes are independent::
 
     import numpy as np
     import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
@@ -444,7 +443,7 @@ Generate images without having a window popup
 
 The easiest way to do this is use an image backend (see
 :ref:`what-is-a-backend`) such as Agg (for PNGs), PDF, SVG or PS.  In
-your figure generating script, just place call
+your figure generating script, just call the
 :func:`matplotlib.use` directive before importing pylab or
 pyplot::
 
@@ -474,7 +473,7 @@ not want a user interface window, you do not need to call ``show``  (see
 :ref:`howto-batch` and :ref:`what-is-a-backend`).
 
 
-Because it is expensive to draw, matplotlib does not want to redrawing the figure
+Because it is expensive to draw, matplotlib does not want redraw the figure
 many times in a script such as the following::
 
     plot([1,2,3])            # draw here ?
@@ -485,7 +484,7 @@ many times in a script such as the following::
 
 
 It is *possible* to force matplotlib to draw after every command,
-which is what you usually want when working interactively at the
+which might be what you want when working interactively at the
 python console (see :ref:`mpl-shell`), but in a script you want to
 defer all drawing until the script has executed.  This is especially
 important for complex figures that take some time to draw.
@@ -537,7 +536,7 @@ want to receive them in a standard format.  If possible, for any
 non-trivial change, please include a complete, free-standing example
 that the developers  can run unmodified which shows the undesired
 behavior pre-patch and the desired behavior post-patch, with a clear
-verbal description of what to look for.  The original developer may
+verbal description of what to look for.  A developer may
 have written the function you are working on years ago, and may no
 longer be with the project, so it is quite possible you are the world
 expert on the code you are patching and we want to hear as much detail
@@ -560,7 +559,7 @@ Contribute to matplotlib documentation
 -----------------------------------------
 
 matplotlib is a big library, which is used in many ways, and the
-documentation we have only scratches the surface of everything it can
+documentation has only scratched the surface of everything it can
 do.  So far, the place most people have learned all these features are
 through studying the examples (:ref:`how-to-search-examples`), which is a
 recommended and great way to learn, but it would be nice to have more
@@ -569,7 +568,7 @@ corners.  This is where you come in.
 
 There is a good chance you know more about matplotlib usage in some
 areas, the stuff you do every day, than many of the core developers
-who write most of the documentation.  Just pulled your hair out
+who wrote most of the documentation.  Just pulled your hair out
 compiling matplotlib for windows?  Write a FAQ or a section for the
 :ref:`installing` page.  Are you a digital signal processing wizard?
 Write a tutorial on the signal analysis plotting functions like
@@ -582,10 +581,10 @@ for it in the :ref:`users-guide-index`.  Bundle matplotlib in a
 
 matplotlib is documented using the `sphinx
 <http://sphinx.pocoo.org/index.html>`_ extensions to restructured text
-`ReST <http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html>`_.  sphinx is a
+`(ReST) <http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html>`_.  sphinx is an
 extensible python framework for documentation projects which generates
 HTML and PDF, and is pretty easy to write; you can see the source for this
-document or any page on this site by clicking on *Show Source* link
+document or any page on this site by clicking on the *Show Source* link
 at the end of the page in the sidebar (or `here
 <../_sources/faq/howto_faq.txt>`_ for this document).
 
@@ -630,9 +629,9 @@ Agg is to call::
 For more on configuring your backend, see
 :ref:`what-is-a-backend`.
 
-Alternatively, you can avoid pylab/pyplot altogeher, which will give
+Alternatively, you can avoid pylab/pyplot altogether, which will give
 you a little more control, by calling the API directly as shown in
-`agg_oo.py <http://matplotlib.sf.net/examples/api/agg_oo.py>`_ .
+:ref:`api_examples-agg_oo.py`.
 
 You can either generate hardcopy on the filesystem by calling savefig::
 
@@ -650,7 +649,9 @@ or by saving to a file handle::
     import sys
     fig.savefig(sys.stdout)
 
-Here is an example using the Python Imaging Library PIL.  First the figure is saved to a StringIO objectm which is then fed to PIL for further processing::
+Here is an example using the Python Imaging Library PIL.  First the figure
+is saved to a StringIO objectm which is then fed to PIL for further
+processing::
 
     import StringIO, Image
     imgdata = StringIO.StringIO()
diff --git a/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst b/doc/faq/installing_faq.rst
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ If you are still having trouble, see :ref:`reporting-problems`.
 .. _clean-install:
 
 Cleanly rebuild and reinstall everything
-==================================================
+========================================
 
 The steps depend on your platform and installation method.
 
@@ -110,6 +110,17 @@ and build and install as usual with::
   > cd matplotlib
   > python setup.py install
 
+.. note::
+
+    If you are on debian/ubuntu, you can get all the dependencies
+    required to build matplotlib with::
+
+      sudo apt-get build_dep python-matplotlib
+
+    This does not build matplotlib, but it does get the install the
+    build dependencies, which will make building from source easier.
+
+
 If you want to be able to follow the development branch as it changes just replace
 the last step with (Make sure you have **setuptools** installed)::
 
@@ -153,13 +164,13 @@ others in web application servers to dynamically serve up graphs.
 To support all of these use cases, matplotlib can target different
 outputs, and each of these capabililities is called a backend; the
 "frontend" is the user facing code, ie the plotting code, whereas the
-"backend" does all the dirty work behind the scenes to make the
+"backend" does all the hard work behind-the-scenes to make the
 figure.  There are two types of backends: user interface backends (for
 use in pygtk, wxpython, tkinter, qt, macosx, or fltk) and hardcopy backends to
 make image files (PNG, SVG, PDF, PS).
 
 There are a two primary ways to configure your backend.  One is to set
-the ``backend`` parameter in you ``matplotlibrc`` file (see
+the ``backend`` parameter in your ``matplotlibrc`` file (see
 :ref:`customizing-matplotlib`)::
 
     backend : WXAgg   # use wxpython with antigrain (agg) rendering
@@ -172,8 +183,8 @@ The other is to use the matplotlib :func:`~matplotlib.use` directive::
 If you use the ``use`` directive, this must be done before importing
 :mod:`matplotlib.pyplot` or :mod:`matplotlib.pylab`.
 
-If you are unsure what to do, and just want to get cranking, just set
-your backend to ``TkAgg``.  This will do the right thing for 95% of the
+If you are unsure what to do, and just want to get coding, just set
+your backend to ``TkAgg``.  This will do the right thing for most
 users.  It gives you the option of running your scripts in batch or
 working interactively from the python shell, with the least amount of
 hassles, and is smart enough to do the right thing when you ask for
@@ -314,7 +325,7 @@ Installer.app, prompt you for a password if you need system wide
 installation privileges, and install to a directory like
 file:`/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/`, again depedending on your
 python version.  This directory may not be in your python path, so you
-can test your installation with::
+should test your installation with::
 
   > python -c 'import matplotlib; print matplotlib.__version__, matplotlib.__file__'
 
@@ -335,7 +346,7 @@ See also ref:`environment-variables`.
 easy_install from egg
 ------------------------------
 
-You can also us the eggs we build for OSX (see the `installation
+You can also use the eggs we build for OSX (see the `installation
 instructions
 <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#cygwin-mac-os-x-linux-other>`_
 for easy_install if you do not have it on your system already).  You
@@ -368,7 +379,7 @@ matplotlib download site, with ``easy_install``, getting an error::
 
 If you rename ``matplotlib-0.98.0-py2.5-macosx-10.3-fat.egg`` to
 ``matplotlib-0.98.0-py2.5.egg``, ``easy_install`` will install it from
-the disk.  Many Mac OS X eggs with cruft at the end of the filename,
+the disk.  Many Mac OS X eggs have cruft at the end of the filename,
 which prevents their installation through easy_install.  Renaming is
 all it takes to install them; still, it's annoying.
 
diff --git a/doc/faq/troubleshooting_faq.rst b/doc/faq/troubleshooting_faq.rst
@@ -40,19 +40,19 @@ and printing the ``__file__`` attribute::
 Each user has a :file:`.matplotlib/` directory which may contain a
 :ref:`matplotlibrc <customizing-with-matplotlibrc-files>` file and various
 caches to improve matplotlib's performance. To locate your :file:`.matplotlib/`
-directory, use :func:`matplotlib.get_configdir`:
+directory, use :func:`matplotlib.get_configdir`::
 
     >>> import matplotlib as mpl
     >>> mpl.get_configdir()
     '/home/darren/.matplotlib'
 
-On unix like systems, this directory is generally located in your
+On unix-like systems, this directory is generally located in your
 :envvar:`HOME` directory.  On windows, it is in your documents and
 settings directory by default::
 
     >>> import matplotlib
     >>> mpl.get_configdir()
-        'C:\\Documents and Settings\\jdhunter\\.matplotlib'
+    'C:\\Documents and Settings\\jdhunter\\.matplotlib'
 
 If you would like to use a different configuration directory, you can
 do so by specifying the location in your :envvar:`MPLCONFIGDIR`
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ If not, please provide the following information in your e-mail to the
 `mailing list
 <http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/matplotlib-users>`_:
 
-  * your operating system; on Linux/UNIX post the output of ``uname -a``
+  * your operating system; (Linux/UNIX users: post the output of ``uname -a``)
 
   * matplotlib version::
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ If not, please provide the following information in your e-mail to the
   * where you obtained matplotlib (e.g. your Linux distribution's
     packages or the matplotlib Sourceforge site, or the enthought
     python distribution `EPD
-    <http://www.enthought.com/products/epd.php>`_.
+    <http://www.enthought.com/products/epd.php>`_).
 
   * any customizations to your ``matplotlibrc`` file (see
     :ref:`customizing-matplotlib`).
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ simple test script in debug mode::
 and post :file:`build.out` and :file:`run.out` to the
 `matplotlib-devel
 <http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/matplotlib-devel>`_
-mailing list (please do not post svn problems to the `users list
+mailing list (please do not post git problems to the `users list
 <http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/matplotlib-users>`_).
 
 Of course, you will want to clearly describe your problem, what you
