├── .gitignore
├── plot.png
├── .vscode
    ├── settings.json
    └── tasks.json
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── main.cpp
├── .clang-format
└── README.md


/.gitignore:
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1 | /build


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/plot.png:
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https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tttapa/Pybind11-Matplotlib-Cpp/HEAD/plot.png


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/.vscode/settings.json:
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1 | {
2 |     "files.associations": {
3 |         "cmath": "cpp"
4 |     },
5 |     "C_Cpp.default.cppStandard": "c++17"
6 | }


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/CMakeLists.txt:
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1 | cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.4)
2 | project(Pybind11-Matplotlib-Cpp)
3 | 
4 | set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
5 | 
6 | find_package(pybind11 REQUIRED)
7 | add_executable(main main.cpp)
8 | target_link_libraries(main pybind11::embed)


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/main.cpp:
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 1 | #include <cmath>  // std::exp, std::cos
 2 | 
 3 | #include <pybind11/embed.h>  // py::scoped_interpreter
 4 | #include <pybind11/stl.h>    // bindings from C++ STL containers to Python types
 5 | 
 6 | namespace py = pybind11;
 7 | 
 8 | int main() {
 9 |     // Create an exponentially decaying sinusoidal signal as an example
10 |     std::vector<double> signal(1024);
11 |     for (size_t i = 0; i < signal.size(); ++i)
12 |         signal[i] = std::exp(i / -256.0) * std::cos(2 * M_PI * 8 * i / 1024.0);
13 | 
14 |     // Start the Python interpreter
15 |     py::scoped_interpreter guard{};
16 |     using namespace py::literals;
17 | 
18 |     // Save the necessary local variables in a Python dict
19 |     py::dict locals = py::dict{
20 |         "signal"_a = signal,
21 |     };
22 | 
23 |     // Execute Python code, using the variables saved in `locals`
24 |     py::exec(R"(
25 |     
26 |     import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
27 | 
28 |     plt.plot(signal)
29 |     plt.show()
30 |     
31 |     )",
32 |              py::globals(), locals);
33 | }


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/.vscode/tasks.json:
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 1 | {
 2 |     // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
 3 |     // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
 4 |     "version": "2.0.0",
 5 |     "tasks": [
 6 |         {
 7 |             "type": "shell",
 8 |             "label": "Build",
 9 |             "command": "make -j$(($(nproc) * 2))",
10 |             "options": {
11 |                 "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/build",
12 |             },
13 |             "problemMatcher": "$gcc",
14 |             "group": {
15 |                 "kind": "build",
16 |                 "isDefault": true,
17 |             },
18 |         },
19 |         {
20 |             "type": "shell",
21 |             "label": "Build & Run",
22 |             "command": "./main",
23 |             "options": {
24 |                 "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/build",
25 |             },
26 |             "problemMatcher": [],
27 |             "group": {
28 |                 "kind": "build",
29 |                 "isDefault": true,
30 |             },
31 |             "dependsOn": "Build",
32 |         },
33 |         {
34 |             "type": "shell",
35 |             "label": "Clean",
36 |             "command": "make clean",
37 |             "options": {
38 |                 "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/build",
39 |             },
40 |             "problemMatcher": [],
41 |         },
42 |         {
43 |             "type": "shell",
44 |             "label": "Clear build Directory and Run CMake",
45 |             "command": "mkdir -p build && cd build && rm -rf ./* && cmake .. -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=$(which python3)",
46 |             "options": {
47 |                 "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
48 |             },
49 |             "problemMatcher": [],
50 |         },
51 |     ]
52 | }


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/.clang-format:
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  1 | ---
  2 | Language:        Cpp
  3 | # BasedOnStyle:  LLVM
  4 | AccessModifierOffset: -2
  5 | AlignAfterOpenBracket: Align
  6 | AlignConsecutiveAssignments: true
  7 | AlignConsecutiveDeclarations: false
  8 | AlignEscapedNewlines: Right
  9 | AlignOperands:   true
 10 | AlignTrailingComments: true
 11 | AllowAllParametersOfDeclarationOnNextLine: true
 12 | AllowShortBlocksOnASingleLine: false
 13 | AllowShortCaseLabelsOnASingleLine: true
 14 | AllowShortFunctionsOnASingleLine: All
 15 | AllowShortIfStatementsOnASingleLine: false
 16 | AllowShortLoopsOnASingleLine: false
 17 | AlwaysBreakAfterDefinitionReturnType: None
 18 | AlwaysBreakAfterReturnType: None
 19 | AlwaysBreakBeforeMultilineStrings: false
 20 | AlwaysBreakTemplateDeclarations: true
 21 | BinPackArguments: true
 22 | BinPackParameters: true
 23 | BraceWrapping:   
 24 |   AfterClass:      false
 25 |   AfterControlStatement: false
 26 |   AfterEnum:       false
 27 |   AfterFunction:   false
 28 |   AfterNamespace:  false
 29 |   AfterObjCDeclaration: false
 30 |   AfterStruct:     false
 31 |   AfterUnion:      false
 32 |   AfterExternBlock: false
 33 |   BeforeCatch:     false
 34 |   BeforeElse:      false
 35 |   IndentBraces:    false
 36 |   SplitEmptyFunction: true
 37 |   SplitEmptyRecord: true
 38 |   SplitEmptyNamespace: true
 39 | BreakBeforeBinaryOperators: None
 40 | BreakBeforeBraces: Attach
 41 | BreakBeforeInheritanceComma: false
 42 | BreakBeforeTernaryOperators: true
 43 | BreakConstructorInitializersBeforeComma: false
 44 | BreakConstructorInitializers: BeforeColon
 45 | BreakAfterJavaFieldAnnotations: false
 46 | BreakStringLiterals: true
 47 | ColumnLimit:     80
 48 | CommentPragmas:  '^ IWYU pragma:'
 49 | CompactNamespaces: false
 50 | ConstructorInitializerAllOnOneLineOrOnePerLine: false
 51 | ConstructorInitializerIndentWidth: 4
 52 | ContinuationIndentWidth: 4
 53 | Cpp11BracedListStyle: true
 54 | DerivePointerAlignment: false
 55 | DisableFormat:   false
 56 | ExperimentalAutoDetectBinPacking: false
 57 | FixNamespaceComments: true
 58 | ForEachMacros:   
 59 |   - foreach
 60 |   - Q_FOREACH
 61 |   - BOOST_FOREACH
 62 | IncludeBlocks:   Preserve
 63 | IncludeCategories: 
 64 |   - Regex:           '^"(llvm|llvm-c|clang|clang-c)/'
 65 |     Priority:        2
 66 |   - Regex:           '^(<|"(gtest|gmock|isl|json)/)'
 67 |     Priority:        3
 68 |   - Regex:           '.*'
 69 |     Priority:        1
 70 | IncludeIsMainRegex: '(Test)?$'
 71 | IndentCaseLabels: true
 72 | IndentPPDirectives: None
 73 | IndentWidth:     4
 74 | IndentWrappedFunctionNames: false
 75 | JavaScriptQuotes: Leave
 76 | JavaScriptWrapImports: true
 77 | KeepEmptyLinesAtTheStartOfBlocks: true
 78 | MacroBlockBegin: ''
 79 | MacroBlockEnd:   ''
 80 | MaxEmptyLinesToKeep: 1
 81 | NamespaceIndentation: None
 82 | ObjCBlockIndentWidth: 2
 83 | ObjCSpaceAfterProperty: false
 84 | ObjCSpaceBeforeProtocolList: true
 85 | PenaltyBreakAssignment: 2
 86 | PenaltyBreakBeforeFirstCallParameter: 19
 87 | PenaltyBreakComment: 300
 88 | PenaltyBreakFirstLessLess: 120
 89 | PenaltyBreakString: 1000
 90 | PenaltyExcessCharacter: 1000000
 91 | PenaltyReturnTypeOnItsOwnLine: 60
 92 | PointerAlignment: Right
 93 | RawStringFormats: 
 94 |   - Delimiter:       pb
 95 |     Language:        TextProto
 96 |     BasedOnStyle:    google
 97 | ReflowComments:  false
 98 | SortIncludes:    true
 99 | SortUsingDeclarations: true
100 | SpaceAfterCStyleCast: true
101 | SpaceAfterTemplateKeyword: true
102 | SpaceBeforeAssignmentOperators: true
103 | SpaceBeforeParens: ControlStatements
104 | SpaceInEmptyParentheses: false
105 | SpacesBeforeTrailingComments: 2
106 | SpacesInAngles:  false
107 | SpacesInContainerLiterals: true
108 | SpacesInCStyleCastParentheses: false
109 | SpacesInParentheses: false
110 | SpacesInSquareBrackets: false
111 | Standard:        Cpp11
112 | TabWidth:        8
113 | UseTab:          Never
114 | ...
115 | 


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/README.md:
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  1 | # Plotting Data using Matplotlib from C++
  2 | 
  3 | I had to write some code in C++ where I wanted to plot the results of a 
  4 | signal processing function.  
  5 | The existing C++ plotting libraries had quite a learning curve, and I was 
  6 | already familiar with Python's Matplotlib, so I didn't want to learn an entirely
  7 | new library.  
  8 | I then found [matplotlib-cpp](https://github.com/lava/matplotlib-cpp), C++ 
  9 | bindings for Matplotlib. It worked fine, but was quite limited.  
 10 | However, that gave me the idea to use pybind11 to call Python Matplotlib code
 11 | from my C++ applications.
 12 | 
 13 | The results are great. The C++ code just does all of its calculations, starts 
 14 | the Python interpreter, and passes the data to be plotted to a piece of Python
 15 | code that uses Matplotlib to display the data.
 16 | 
 17 | This repository is a simple template that I use myself when I start a new 
 18 | project where I want to plot data from C++.  
 19 | It contains a very simple C++ example program and a CMakeLists.txt file that 
 20 | builds the application.  
 21 | There are also build tasks for Visual Studio Code, which I use as my main 
 22 | editor.
 23 | 
 24 | ## Installing the Dependencies
 25 | 
 26 | To build and run the example, you need a the usual tools: a compiler, make, 
 27 | cmake.
 28 | 
 29 | ~~~sh
 30 | sudo apt install g++ make cmake
 31 | ~~~
 32 | 
 33 | You also need Python 3, of course. Either install them through the repositories:
 34 | 
 35 | ~~~sh
 36 | sudo apt install python3-dev python3-pip
 37 | ~~~
 38 | 
 39 | Or if you want the latest Python version, check out these instructions on how to
 40 | build it yourself: 
 41 | [building Python 3 from source](https://tttapa.github.io/Pages/Ubuntu/Software-Installation/Python.html)
 42 | 
 43 | You'll also need Matplotlib for the plots:
 44 | 
 45 | ~~~sh
 46 | python3 -m pip install --user matplotlib
 47 | ~~~
 48 | 
 49 | Next, install pybind11. You can install it system-wide or for your user only.
 50 | 
 51 | **System-wide**
 52 | 
 53 | ~~~sh
 54 | cd /tmp
 55 | git clone https://github.com/pybind/pybind11 --depth=1
 56 | mkdir pybind11/build && cd pybind11/build
 57 | cmake .. -DPYBIND11_TEST=OFF
 58 | sudo make install
 59 | ~~~
 60 | 
 61 | **Local**
 62 | 
 63 | ~~~sh
 64 | cd /tmp
 65 | git clone https://github.com/pybind/pybind11 --depth=1
 66 | mkdir pybind11/build && cd pybind11/build
 67 | cmake .. -DPYBIND11_TEST=OFF -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/.local
 68 | make install
 69 | echo "export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=\$HOME/.local/lib/cmake" >> ~/.profile
 70 | source ~/.profile
 71 | ~~~
 72 | 
 73 | Finally, just clone this repository:
 74 | 
 75 | ~~~sh
 76 | cd
 77 | git clone https://github.com/tttapa/Pybind11-Matplotlib-Cpp
 78 | ~~~
 79 | 
 80 | ## Building and Running the Example using the Command Line
 81 | 
 82 | Create a `build` directory, and run CMake. You can specify the path to your 
 83 | Python executable if you want to use a specific one, otherwise, just use `which`
 84 | to determine the default one.
 85 | 
 86 | ~~~sh
 87 | cd Pybind11-Matplotlib-Cpp
 88 | mkdir build && cd build
 89 | cmake .. -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=`which python3`
 90 | ~~~
 91 | 
 92 | Next, simply run Make to build:
 93 | 
 94 | ~~~sh
 95 | make
 96 | ~~~
 97 | 
 98 | Finally, run the application:
 99 | 
100 | ~~~sh
101 | ./main
102 | ~~~
103 | 
104 | You should see a Matplotlib plot opening.
105 | 
106 | ![Plot](plot.png)
107 | 
108 | ## Building and Running the Example using Visual Studio Code
109 | 
110 | I also included some build tasks for Visual Studio Code that you can use.  
111 | To build the application in VSCode, open this folder using `Ctrl+K Ctrl+O`, 
112 | then hit `Ctrl+P`, type `task`, then a space and then "Clear build Directory
113 | and Run CMake". Press enter to execute the task.  
114 | Next, hit `Ctrl+Shift+B`, select "Build & Run" using the arrow keys, and hit
115 | enter to build and run the application.
116 | 
117 | There are other tasks for running "make clean" and for building without running
118 | the application as well.
119 | 
120 | VSCode will probably give you a warning that `Python.h` was not found in the
121 | include path. You can just click the yellow light bulb, and select `Add to 
122 | "includePath": /usr/include/python3.x`.


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