Summary

As pointed out in #596 (comment) and #596 (comment), pause should not raise the window by default. There are many users who have trouble with that behavior:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44278369/how-to-keep-matplotlib-python-window-in-background
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45729092/make-interactive-matplotlib-window-not-pop-to-front-on-each-update-windows-7/45734500

Proposed fix

One way to remedy this would be to move away from the global rcParam approach and do something like the following:

1. Add an explicit raise_window function.
2. Add a raise_window argument for plot (True by default).
3. Add a raise_window argument for pause (False by default).

In general, it seems like a good idea to make semantically-distinct actions (redrawing, window raising, pausing for a specified time interval, etc.) orthogonal rather than mix them together and then have to untangle them via global parameters. This might also simplify the code for the various backends. Thoughts?