{"id":1259,"date":"2014-12-10T18:06:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T23:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2019-11-01T11:26:21","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T15:26:21","slug":"a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-4-the-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/2014\/12\/10\/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-4-the-name\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Colormap for MATLAB &#8211; Part 4 &#8211; The Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n<div class=\"content\"><p>In the summer of 2013 we were closing in a choice for the new MATLAB colormap. We were down to tweaking and fine-tuning.<\/p><p>But ... we needed a name!<\/p><p>For my many experiments, I had fallen back on an old graduate school habit of naming things after characters from Lord of the Rings. So I had filenames such as gandalf_20130623a.m and faramir_20130712b.m. (Faramir is my favorite LOTR minor character.) I certainly knew that wasn't going to work for the final name. How to choose one?<\/p><p>I looked over the names of the existing colormaps:<\/p><p>\r\n<table>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>jet&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_jet.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>hsv <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_hsv.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>hot <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_hot.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>cool <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_cool.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>spring <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_spring.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>summer <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_summer.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>autumn <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_autumn.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>winter <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_winter.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>gray <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_gray.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>bone <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_bone.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>copper <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_copper.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>pink <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_pink.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>lines <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_lines.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>colorcube <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_colorcube.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>prism <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_prism.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<tr> <td> <code>flag <\/td> <td> <img\r\nsrc=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_flag.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/p><p>Well, we've got a few identifiable themes in there:<\/p><div><ul><li>seasons (summer, autumn, winter, spring)<\/li><li>temperatures (cool, hot)<\/li><li>materials (bone, copper)<\/li><li>hues (pink, gray)<\/li><li>colorspaces (hsv, colorcube - sort of)<\/li><\/ul><\/div><p>And there are some oddball names, such as jet, lines, prism, and flag. None of that seemed inspirational for naming a new colormap.<\/p><p>I decided to look for something descriptive. But descriptive of what?<\/p><p>To remind you, here's what the new colormap looks like:<\/p><pre class=\"codeinput\">showColormap(parula,<span class=\"string\">'bar'<\/span>)\r\n<\/pre><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/images\/steve\/2014\/parula_part_4_01.png\" alt=\"\"> <p>I picked the main colors (to my eye, these are blue, green, orange, and yellow) in the new colormap and started doing searches using these color names and different kinds of objects. Animals seemed obvious. I actually started with fish, but that got nowhere fast.<\/p><p>Then I tried birds, and up popped the <b>tropical parula<\/b>:<\/p><p>\r\n<a title=\"By Dario Sanches from S\u00c3\u00a3o Paulo, Brazil [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons\" href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/ea\/Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\/1223px-Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\"><img width=\"400\" alt=\"Parula pitiayumi -Fecapi, Piraju, Sao Paulo, Brasil-8\"\r\nsrc=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/ea\/Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\/573px-Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\"\/><\/a>\r\n<\/p><p>As <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tropical_parula\">Wikipedia describes it<\/a>, the tropical parula \"has mainly blue-grey upperparts, with a greenish back patch and two white wingbars. The underparts are yellow, becoming orange on the breast.\"<\/p><p>Perfect! I didn't really think the team would go for it, though. I sent around an email with the name parula and a picture of the bird to a small group of people working on the visual appearance changes for the new MATLAB graphics system. Somewhat to my surprise, everyone said they liked it. Later, a larger group of senior MATLAB designers reviewed it, and they also liked it. So the name stuck.<\/p><p>That left us with one big problem, however. How is parula pronounced?<\/p><p>I don't know. In trying to find a definitive answer, I have only managed to confuse myself. As a result, I don't even always pronounce it the same way myself. In looking at various references for pronunciation of bird names, I have seen all of these variations:<\/p><div><ul><li>pah-ROO-l&#601;<\/li><li>PAIR-y&#601;-l&#601;<\/li><li>PAIR-&#601;-l&#601;<\/li><li>PAR-y&#601;-l&#601;<\/li><\/ul><\/div><p>I know two amateur birders at MathWorkers who told me definitively how to pronounce it. Of course, they each gave me a different answer.<\/p><p>I guess that most American English speakers would choose the first variation, which has the accent on the second syllable. That has certainly been the case at MathWorks headquarters in Massachusetts.<\/p><p>So I'll tell you what I tell MathWorkers here: you can pronounce it however you like!<\/p><script language=\"JavaScript\"> <!-- \r\n    function grabCode_918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b() {\r\n        \/\/ Remember the title so we can use it in the new page\r\n        title = document.title;\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Break up these strings so that their presence\r\n        \/\/ in the Javascript doesn't mess up the search for\r\n        \/\/ the MATLAB code.\r\n        t1='918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b ' + '##### ' + 'SOURCE BEGIN' + ' #####';\r\n        t2='##### ' + 'SOURCE END' + ' #####' + ' 918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b';\r\n    \r\n        b=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];\r\n        i1=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t1)+t1.length;\r\n        i2=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t2);\r\n \r\n        code_string = b.innerHTML.substring(i1, i2);\r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/REPLACE_WITH_DASH_DASH\/g,'--');\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Use \/x3C\/g instead of the less-than character to avoid errors \r\n        \/\/ in the XML parser.\r\n        \/\/ Use '\\x26#60;' instead of '<' so that the XML parser\r\n        \/\/ doesn't go ahead and substitute the less-than character. \r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/\\x3C\/g, '\\x26#60;');\r\n\r\n        copyright = 'Copyright 2014 The MathWorks, Inc.';\r\n\r\n        w = window.open();\r\n        d = w.document;\r\n        d.write('<pre>\\n');\r\n        d.write(code_string);\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Add copyright line at the bottom if specified.\r\n        if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n            d.writeln('');\r\n            d.writeln('%%');\r\n            if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n                d.writeln('% _' + copyright + '_');\r\n            }\r\n        }\r\n\r\n        d.write('<\/pre>\\n');\r\n\r\n        d.title = title + ' (MATLAB code)';\r\n        d.close();\r\n    }   \r\n     --> <\/script><p style=\"text-align: right; font-size: xx-small; font-weight:lighter;   font-style: italic; color: gray\"><br><a href=\"javascript:grabCode_918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b()\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;        font-style: italic;\">Get \r\n      the MATLAB code <noscript>(requires JavaScript)<\/noscript><\/span><\/a><br><br>\r\n      Published with MATLAB&reg; R2014b<br><\/p><\/div><!--\r\n918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b ##### SOURCE BEGIN #####\r\n%%\r\n% In the summer of 2013 we were closing in a choice for the new MATLAB colormap.\r\n% We were down to tweaking and fine-tuning.\r\n%\r\n% But ... we needed a name!\r\n%\r\n% For my many experiments, I had fallen back on an old graduate school habit of\r\n% naming things after characters from Lord of the Rings. So I had filenames such\r\n% as gandalf_20130623a.m and faramir_20130712b.m. (Faramir is my favorite LOTR\r\n% minor character.) I certainly knew that wasn't going to work for the final\r\n% name. How to choose one?\r\n%\r\n% I looked over the names of the existing colormaps:\r\n%\r\n% <html>\r\n% <table>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>jet&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_jet.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>hsv <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_hsv.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>hot <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_hot.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>cool <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_cool.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>spring <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_spring.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>summer <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_summer.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>autumn <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_autumn.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>winter <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_winter.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>gray <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_gray.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>bone <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_bone.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>copper <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_copper.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>pink <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_pink.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>lines <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_lines.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>colorcube <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_colorcube.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>prism <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_prism.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <tr> <td> <code>flag <\/td> <td> <img\r\n% src=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/help\/matlab\/ref\/colormap_flag.png\"> <\/td> <\/tr>\r\n% <\/table>\r\n% <\/html>\r\n%\r\n% Well, we've got a few identifiable themes in there:\r\n%\r\n% * seasons (summer, autumn, winter, spring)\r\n% * temperatures (cool, hot)\r\n% * materials (bone, copper)\r\n% * hues (pink, gray)\r\n% * colorspaces (hsv, colorcube - sort of)\r\n%\r\n% And there are some oddball names, such as jet, lines, prism, and flag. None of\r\n% that seemed inspirational for naming a new colormap.\r\n%\r\n% I decided to look for something descriptive. But descriptive of what?\r\n%\r\n% To remind you, here's what the new colormap looks like:\r\n\r\nshowColormap(parula,'bar')\r\n\r\n%%\r\n%\r\n% I picked the main colors (to my eye, these are blue, green, orange, and\r\n% yellow) in the new colormap and started doing searches using these color names\r\n% and different kinds of objects. Animals seemed obvious. I actually started\r\n% with fish, but that got nowhere fast.\r\n%\r\n% Then I tried birds, and up popped the *tropical parula*:\r\n%\r\n% <html>\r\n% <a title=\"By Dario Sanches from S\u00c3\u00a3o Paulo, Brazil [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons\" href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/ea\/Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\/1223px-Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" alt=\"Parula pitiayumi -Fecapi, Piraju, Sao Paulo, Brasil-8\" \r\n% src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/ea\/Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\/573px-Parula_pitiayumi_-Fecapi%2C_Piraju%2C_Sao_Paulo%2C_Brasil-8.jpg\"\/><\/a>\r\n% <\/html>\r\n%\r\n% As <http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tropical_parula Wikipedia describes it>, the\r\n% tropical parula \"has mainly blue-grey upperparts, with a greenish back patch\r\n% and two white wingbars. The underparts are yellow, becoming orange on the\r\n% breast.\"\r\n%\r\n% Perfect! I didn't really think the team would go for it, though. I sent around\r\n% an email with the name parula and a picture of the bird to a small group of\r\n% people working on the visual appearance changes for the new MATLAB graphics\r\n% system. Somewhat to my surprise, everyone said they liked it. Later, a larger\r\n% group of senior MATLAB designers reviewed it, and they also liked it. So the\r\n% name stuck.\r\n%\r\n% That left us with one big problem, however. How is parula pronounced?\r\n%\r\n% I don't know. In trying to find a definitive answer, I have only managed to\r\n% confuse myself. As a result, I don't even always pronounce it the same way\r\n% myself. In looking at various references for pronunciation of bird names, I\r\n% have seen all of these variations:\r\n%\r\n% * pah-ROO-l&#601;\r\n% * PAIR-y&#601;-l&#601;\r\n% * PAIR-&#601;-l&#601;\r\n% * PAR-y&#601;-l&#601;\r\n%\r\n% I know two amateur birders at MathWorkers who told me definitively how to\r\n% pronounce it. Of course, they each gave me a different answer.\r\n%\r\n% I guess that most American English speakers would choose the first variation,\r\n% which has the accent on the second syllable. That has certainly been the case\r\n% at MathWorks headquarters in Massachusetts.\r\n%\r\n% So I'll tell you what I tell MathWorkers here: you can pronounce it\r\n% however you like!\r\n##### SOURCE END ##### 918d587a30a948349624180bd6775d3b\r\n-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/files\/tropical-parula-400x300.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/div><p>\r\n\r\nIn the summer of 2013 we were closing in a choice for the new MATLAB colormap. We were down to tweaking and fine-tuning.But ... we needed a name!For my many experiments, I had fallen back on an... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/2014\/12\/10\/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-4-the-name\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":1263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[1093],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1262,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions\/1262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}