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Tag Archives: Python

File in/out: How to import data files from Spike2 (and Matlab) into Python

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Joanna Diong 12 comments

Spike2 is a type of signal acquisition software commonly used in physiological studies (eg. electromyography, kinematics, cardiovascular research, sleep, etc). It is possible to perform signal analysis in Spike2 by using the drop-down menus, or by programming scripts to automate analysis. However, the programming language for Spike2 is difficult to read, which discourages many scientists from learning to program scripts

Error handling in Python: part 2

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Martin Héroux Leave a comment

In the last post, we learned to use an if test to detect an error that could occur when a user runs our program. A more modern and flexible way of handling errors is to try to execute a statement, and if something goes wrong, jump to a specific set of statements to deal with the error, or at least

Error handling in Python: part 1

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Martin Héroux One comment

Errors are a part of life. Thus, it makes sense to plan for them and minimize their impact. A computer program that has an unwanted behaviour is said to have a “bug”. These types of errors should be fixed before the code is used and shared with others. Other types of errors cannot be avoided, but the clever coder can

Matplotlib: How to mark regions of interest on plots

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Joanna Diong 4 comments

Sometimes when we plot data we want to indicate a relevant feature or have a user select a section of the data. For example, if we record electromyography (EMG) and force signals, we might want to have the user mark the baseline EMG level so that it can be removed, and determine the amount of EMG produced during a maximum

Take control of your Python print() statements: part 3

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Martin Héroux 13 comments

In the last post, we learned how to control the precision of the number we print as well as the number of spaces these numbers take up. The last thing we need to learn to output nice data tables is how to align text and numbers when we use .format(). Aligning text and numbers with .format() We previously learned to

Take control of your Python print() statements: part 2

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Martin Héroux Leave a comment

In the last post, we learned how to use .format() to improve the quality of our print() statements. You may have noticed that we were still printing lots of values after the decimal point, more than are necessary. In this post we will learn to control the presentation of numerical values. Representing and adjusting numbers using .format() With the .format()

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