If I just want to see the shape of a simple mathematical expression I will just use Wolfram Alpha. It has great natural language support, doesn't require installation or startup, and accepts Mathematica expressions for more complicated stuff.
Plotting Simple Data: Matlab
Whenever I have a quick series I just generated or data from some sort of simple process I will reach for Matlab. I would rather use an OSS solution like Python for this but Matlab is already on my computer and it is pretty good at making simple visualizations.
Plotting Slices of Structured Data: R
R is my first choice whenever I have a structured dataset or need to do anything fancy. I am particularly fond of ggplot2: it looks great by default, can generate tons of different types of plots, and makes slicing and reorganizing the data extremely easy.
Naturally this depends on the task:
Plotting Simple Formulae: Wolfram Alpha
If I just want to see the shape of a simple mathematical expression I will just use Wolfram Alpha. It has great natural language support, doesn't require installation or startup, and accepts Mathematica expressions for more complicated stuff.
Plotting Simple Data: Matlab
Whenever I have a quick series I just generated or data from some sort of simple process I will reach for Matlab. I would rather use an OSS solution like Python for this but Matlab is already on my computer and it is pretty good at making simple visualizations.
Plotting Slices of Structured Data: R
R is my first choice whenever I have a structured dataset or need to do anything fancy. I am particularly fond of ggplot2: it looks great by default, can generate tons of different types of plots, and makes slicing and reorganizing the data extremely easy.
Quick #ShowDev: visualization of my 2017 Fantasy Football Draft using R w/ ggplot2 and R markdown.