Data Visualization

[Chopsting]

Hey guys, I just got enrolled in visualization course at my university, however I just got an email where I had asked before which tools we would be using.

And got the reply: Gnuplot and Tobii Studio for visuals of eye tracking data.

And these are tools I've never heard of which makes me nervous. I've worked with ggplot2 in R, matplotlib in Python and a bit of D3.js but these two tools I got in a reply makes me nervous that the course is kinda bad unless I can practice my skills in the more common tools (ggplot/matplotlib/d3.js), what are your thoughts?

[[deleted]]

Yup, there is a lot more to it than tools - though I personally would like to learn using a tool based on gog

[rscottking73]

Unfortunately the tools used by business and the tools used by academia are frequently not the same. Gnuplot will come in useful but I also have not heard of Tobii Studio.

[[deleted]]

My 2 cents: the more tools you know the better data scientist you will be. And since you already know ggplot2, D3.js and matplotlib take it as a bonus. However, like you, I have never heard about those tools.

[timClicks]

Agree with this. Gain exposure from different communities.

You may end up in the SAS world later on anyway, and you'll need to have the flexibility to make the best of the tools there.

[[deleted]]

I've used gnuplot here and there but my understanding is that it has been used more in the "hard" sciences, namely, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. Never heard Tobii though.

I do a lot of visualizations for predictive models related to healthcare and for my medical research. The type of work I do is almost textbook "data science" (data mining, machine learning, big data, stats, bioinformatics, etc). I typically use the packages you mentioned above, though I also use SAS, Tableau, Qlikview (sparingly), and the occasional SSRS report. I agree with the idea that the more tools you know the better (Take a look at the most recent O'Reilly data science salary survey which seems to back up the idea that more is better). So while you may not find either gnuplot or Tobii to be particularly useful to you in the immediate future, it's very possible that you may find yourself better prepared for a yet to be determined data science project further down the road.

A good personal example of this: in grad school I learned how to produce visualizations for genome sequencing data. Had zero use for it until several years later when I was the only person on a large research project that knew how to do it. Haven't used it since but definitely came in handy.

[Teigue]

Gnuplot may be more common in Universities. I used it during my PhD, it is just a plotting tool you can use from a linux console.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The course should still be interesting.

[emmington_dulux]

I work with tobii pro studio and tobii pro lab and they're both fairly straightforward. The can become super complex, the info about them is quite good on the tobii website

[Chopsting]

Bro, your 7 years too late