Introduction
============

plotypus is a `Python <http://www.python.org>`_ library and command line tool for modelling and plotting the `light curves <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_curve>`_ of periodic `intrinsic variable stars <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star#Intrinsic_variable_stars>`_.


Installation
------------

See `installation guide <user_guide/install.html>`_.


Download
--------

Visit the `plotypus downloads page </plotypus/downloads.html>`_.


Documentation
-------------

This is the documentation for version |version|.

.. raw:: html

    <p id="other_versions"></p>
    <script>
      getSnippet('other_versions', '/plotypus/versions.html');
    </script>

Take a look through the `API <api/index.html>`_, the `User's Guide <user_guide/index.html>`_, and the `examples <examples/index.html>`_.


Citing plotypus
---------------

plotypus was created by `Earl Bellinger <earlbellinger.com>`_ and `Daniel Wysocki <dwysocki.github.io>`_, with advisement from `Dr. Shashi Kanbur <oswego.edu/~kanbur>`_. If plotypus is used in a project that leads to a scientific publication, please cite us. You can use this `citation entry <citing.html>`_.


Open source
-----------

plotypus is an open source project, published under the Lesser GNU General Public License (`LGPLv3 <https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html>`_). Feel free to use and modify the code, but please give credit where it's due. plotypus would not exist as it does if not for other open source projects, specifically `Python <http://www.python.org>`_, `numpy <http://www.numpy.org/>`_, `scipy <http://scipy.org/>`_, `scikit-learn <http://scikit-learn.org/stable/>`_, `matplotlib <http://matplotlib.org/>`_, and `git <http://git-scm.com/>`_.


Contributing
------------

We openly welcome outside contributions. If you would like to be a part of our team, feel free to contact us. If you find a bug, or would like to suggest a feature or improvement, please use our `issue tracker <https://github.com/astroswego/plotypus/issues>`_. If you would like to submit a patch, make a `pull request <https://github.com/astroswego/plotypus/pulls>`_.

We are currently looking for a volunteer to make a graphical user interface to plotypus. If you are interested please let us know, and due to the open nature of the project you can even make one without asking.