More efficient matplotlib stacked bar chart - how to calculate bottom values

Question

I need some help making a set of stacked bar charts in python with matlibplot. My basic code is below but my problems is how to generate the value for bottom fo

Answer 1

Converting your values to numpy arrays will make your life easier:

data = np.array([a, b, c, d])
bottom = np.cumsum(data, axis=0)
colors = ('#ff3333', '#33ff33', '#3333ff', '#33ffff')

plt.bar(ind, data[0], color=colors[0])
for j in xrange(1, data.shape[0]):
    plt.bar(ind, data[1], color=colors[j], bottom=bottom[i-1])

Alternatively, to get rid of the nasty particular case for the first bar:

data = np.array([a, b, c, d])
bottom = np.vstack((np.zeros((data.shape[1],), dtype=data.dtype),
                    np.cumsum(data, axis=0)[:-1]))
colors = ('#ff3333', '#33ff33', '#3333ff', '#33ffff')
for dat, col, bot in zip(data, colors, bottom):
    plt.bar(ind, dat, color=col, bottom=bot)