Ask HN: Is coding visualizations supposed to be this hard?

[throwawaystress]

I’ve used experience both Python and R for years, in multiple jobs, and still, whenever I need to make a visualization that’s anything more complicated than a single-panel bar/scatter/etc plot, it takes tons of trial-and-error to get what I want.

This is in contrast to my experience coding in general, where I build things out, have some tests, and use the little bits of libraries that I need. Visualizations seem like a whole other beast, and are incredibly frustrating given how simple it seems to want to just “move this title over there!”, or “swap the order of these bars on all the facets!”.

On a related note, is data analysis in Python just generally supposed to be more of a hassle than in R? I like Python for general coding, but sometimes pandas feels like pulling teeth.

[Qem]

I've heard nice things about Roassal, this video may interest you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pk4q5oMdLo

The downside is, you'd need to learn a new language, Pharo (a contemporary Smalltalk dialect). There's a MOOC also:

http://mooc.pharo.org

I'm new to programming, still trying to master Python. My next learning project is Pharo, so I get a better grasp on OO programming.