HoloViews

1.22.1 · active · verified Sat Apr 11

HoloViews is a high-level, declarative plotting API for the PyData ecosystem, providing a concise way to build complex, interactive visualizations. It works seamlessly with data structures from libraries like NumPy, Pandas, Xarray, Dask, and Narwhals, and can render plots using Bokeh, Matplotlib, or Plotly backends. The library maintains an active development pace with frequent patch and minor releases, typically every few weeks or months, ensuring broad compatibility and continuous feature enhancements.

Warnings

gotcha Always call `hv.extension()` with your desired backend (e.g., 'bokeh', 'matplotlib', 'plotly') at the start of your notebook or script to initialize the plotting system. Without it, plots will not render.
Fix: Add `hv.extension('bokeh')` (or your chosen backend) after `import holoviews as hv`.
gotcha HoloViews requires at least one plotting backend library (e.g., Bokeh, Matplotlib, Plotly) to be installed to render plots. Installing `holoviews` alone is often not enough.
Fix: Install HoloViews with a backend using `pip install holoviews[bokeh]` or `pip install holoviews bokeh`.
breaking HoloViews v1.21.0 and newer require Python 3.10 or later. Older Python versions are no longer supported.
Fix: Upgrade your Python environment to 3.10 or newer. If you must use an older Python, pin HoloViews to a version less than 1.21.0 (e.g., `holoviews<1.21`).
gotcha For optimal performance with very large datasets, consider using HoloViews with `datashader`. Datashader can efficiently render millions or billions of points into a fixed-size raster image, preventing browser slowdowns.
Fix: Install `datashader` (`pip install datashader`) and apply it using `hv.extension('bokeh', enable_mathjax=True)` or explicitly `.opts(tools=['hover'], data_aspect=1).hist().redim.range(y=(None,None))`.
compatibility HoloViews versions prior to 1.22.1 may have compatibility issues with Pandas 3.0. While efforts are made for forward compatibility, using an older HoloViews with a newer Pandas might lead to unexpected behavior.
Fix: Upgrade HoloViews to 1.22.1 or newer if using Pandas 3.0+. If you need to stay on an older HoloViews, ensure your Pandas version is compatible (e.g., Pandas 2.x).

Install

pip install holoviews Basic install
pip install holoviews[bokeh] Install with Bokeh backend
pip install holoviews[all] Install with all common backends & data libraries

Imports

holoviews
```
import holoviews as hv
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to initialize HoloViews with a backend (Bokeh in this case) and create a simple `Curve` plot from NumPy data. The `hv.extension()` call is crucial for setting up the plotting backend in environments like Jupyter notebooks.

import holoviews as hv
import numpy as np

hv.extension('bokeh')

# Create some sample data
xs = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 100)
ys = np.sin(xs)

# Create a Curve Element
curve = hv.Curve((xs, ys), 'x', 'y', label='Sine Wave')

# Display the plot (in a Jupyter environment)
curve

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