René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"[MNT]: Clarify the difference between Artist.set and Artist.update","articleBody":"### Summary\n\nThose functions are quite similar. In #30956, I tried to relate them via\n\n```\na.update(props) is equivalent to a.set(**props)\n```\n\nAnd got the the question, why we have them both.\n\nFrom a quick look at the code, it seems `set` is doing name normalization, so I wrote\n\n```\n        This is a slightly more efficient variant of `.Artist.set`. It's\n        primarily intended to be used internally and by third party\n        plotting libraries. End users are recommended to use the more\n        readable and flexible `.Artist.set`.\n\n        ``a.update(props)`` is equivalent to ``a.set(**props)``, but does\n        not support aliases / shortcuts; e.g. you can do ``set(lw=1)`` as\n        a shortcut for ``set_linewidth(1)``, but you cannot do\n        ``update({\"lw\": 1})``.\n```\n\nBut turns out that is not true either. While update does not normalize, it likely will just call `set_lw()`.\n\nThis needs more investigation.\n\n### Proposed fix\n\nIdentify whether there are any behavior differences or whether it's just the API (`props` vs. `**props`).\n\nThis possibly involves digging into the history.\n\nDocument the findings and define the scope when/whether `update` should still be used.","author":{"url":"https://github.com/timhoffm","@type":"Person","name":"timhoffm"},"datePublished":"2026-01-13T10:12:45.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":13},"url":"https://github.com/30957/matplotlib/issues/30957"}