Recently my day job has brought Matplotlib to my attention. I’m quite impressed with this package – it offers a very straightforward way to deploy graphical information via the browser. For quite a few years I’ve wished I could write my own web-based electronics design suite (schematic capture, printed circuit board layout, etc.), but never felt ready to tackle the graphical side of the task. Matplotlib looks like it can do the job, so I may give this a go sometime soon. I have some “different” thoughts about how such a system should work, all oriented toward promoting design reuse in a more thoroughgoing way that traditional tools allow. Stay tuned!