matplotlib Code

improve conversion from str to char*, avoid deprecation warnings during
build

cleanup conversion of string to char*, avoid deprecation warnings during
build

Standardize patch argument handling
Setters of properties that have default values (from rcParams)
should use the default if called with argument None.
Also, aliases for setters are provided more concisely.

Improve color handling in collections, fix scatter bug.

dont remove repaint/update from draw(), or updates to the figure after
the initial draw will be ignored. We need a different solution for the
double drawing problem reported for the Wx and Qt* backends

Small speed improvement in color mapping.

rollback change in backend_qt4 that got merged from the maint branch

Speed up color mapping

Speed up zooming and panning of dense images.

Fixed bug revealed by last bugfix in ListedColormap