In [1]: import pylab as p
In [2]: X = p.load('data/ascii_data.dat') # X is an array
In [3]: t = X[:,0] # extract the first column
In [4]: v = X[:,1] # extract the second column
In [5]: len(t)
Out[5]: 20
In [6]: len(v)
Out[6]: 20
In [7]: p.plot(t,v) # plot the data
Out[7]: [<matplotlib.lines.Line2D instance at 0xb6a817ac>]