Sparklines Table 1.0

Posted by Robert Bemis, December 18, 2009

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Bob's pick this week is Sparklines Table 1.0 by James Houghton.

While I have not personally studied the methods of Edward Tufte* I have seen some interesting data visualizations over the years based on his work. I emailed a list of colleagues to see who might loan me his book to look up the reference James included in his submission (thanks for that). A common reply was "Which one? I have three" and it turned out the one James cited had two editions. So I am a little surprised there are not more Tufte plots on the File Exchange, but sparklines is a good start.

The basic idea with sparklines is to keep graphics as compact as possible. The combined plots and tabulated statistics are a neat idea. The fact that dozens of them can easily be seen together is an approach that I know will appeal to many.

James makes it clear in his description that this submission is a beginning. His code includes a list of "to do" items for future enhancement. I love the fact that he submitted early stage work. There is so much potential here. Collaboration might be just the ticket for getting more done faster.

*see also edwardtufte.com

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