title: Using Python or Java, what would be the best way to create charts?
body: <p>I've been searching and found <a href="http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">jFreeChart</a>, <a href="http://pygooglechart.slowchop.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Python Google Chart</a> and <a href="http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/index.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">matplotlib</a>. Searching here I also found <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52652/pretty-graphs-and-charts-in-python">CairoPlot</a>. I've heard I might be able to use OpenOffice to do it too. Is the API easy to use? Or would it be simpler to stick to one of those libraries?</p>
  
  <p>I have more experience with Java, but I've read most of Dive Into Python 3 and done some mockup programs in Python for simple things. I'm probably gonna have to spend more time doing it in Python, though I'm willing to do it as long as it isn't anything mindblowing. I want to automate some tests to put into a thesis, so I'm more worried about the end product.</p>
  
  <p>So far I'm thinking of using matplotlib simply because it's the only one that's had any recent updates, which leads me to assume there might be more documentation due to continued support. I've used jFreeChart in the past too for some testing, and it was ok. But I was hoping to find something better, or to have more documentation/examples to use. Last time I didn't customize the graphics appearance as I wanted - say, change the background in a line plot - due to the lack of examples/documentation.</p>