Karl, Craig, I think the key is to have (1) *one* high level interface (and PDL::Graphics::Simple seems to implement that idea) and (2) have at least one 'backend' (i.e. the various plotting packages/libs) that robustly builds across all platforms (gnuplot may fit that bill) so that basic use is a "no brainer" once you learned the PDL plotting command set , e.g. plot(sin($x)) without worrying much about device opening etc. "All" platform these days probably means 3 - win, linux, os x.
It would be nice to use a sleek, modern, licensing unencumbered plotting backend/library but unfortunately that does not seem to exist. It might also to be too much to ask for just one plotting backend that is both good at fast near real-time plotting (animation/oscilloscope type) and publication quality output - the requirements are very different. Re Karl's question, biophysics/bio users appear to use language specific (matlab, idl, python, R etc) or commercial packages for the less computer savvy (origin, sigma plot) with excel at the lower end. In my own work and that of others plots are often imported into vector graphics SW and then further integrated/tidied up (e.g. A Illustrator). Christian -- Christian Soeller PhD - Dept. of Physiology - Univ. of Auckland Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig) On Sunday, 3 March 2013 at 2:52 PM, Craig DeForest wrote: > In solar physics, aside from my group it has been basically IDL all the way. > Lately there's an initiative called "SunPy" that uses the Python Imaging > Library, and it doesn't suck. For 3-D some the modeling groups tend to use a > heavyweight commercial package whose name I forget, and dplot has continued > to get better (although it is a bit arcane). > > To be fair to PLplot, it is quite a bit prettier than PGPLOT and it does > reward effort. Derek has made some really beautiful figures with it - but > they took a lot of effort. > > IMHO, Gnuplot makes the prettiest graphics of all the quasi-standard packages > (including the commercial ones) with little messing around, which is why I > got on that bandwagon. > > I'm still holding off, waiting for comments on the sketchup of > PDL::Graphics::Simple. If I had my druthers, Alien::Gnuplot would already be > working, and we'd be making the transition to Gnuplot as our default 2-D/3-D > plotting package for publications, and/or Prima for interaction and widget > building. > > > On Mar 3, 2013, at 4:04 AM, Karl Glazebrook <[email protected] > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > > I don't know how 'modern' PLplot is. The documentation still talks about > > Tektronix terminals! > > > > I did some googling, DISLIN seemed the closest but is only semi-frree. > > > > In astronomy people really only use pgplot at the c/f77 level. (At a higher > > level they use language specific graphics, e.g. IDL, IRAF, Python, sm (!), > > gnuplot, MMA). > > > > What about other scientific fields? What do people you know use? > > > > > > Looks dismal. Perhaps the moral is people who put significant effort in to > > visuals tend to go commercial? > > > > Karl > > > > > > On 05/02/2013, at 11:12 AM, Doug Hunt <[email protected] > > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > > > > Hi David: I know I've been slack on keeping the 'high level' version of > > > PDL::Graphics::PLplot up to date, but I have been keeping up with PLplot > > > development at the lower level. That means that all C level PLplot > > > commands are available in perl and that the perl bindings pass all PLplot > > > tests. > > > > > > PLplot is better-than-average open source project with many dedicated > > > long-time contributors. It seems to be well maintained. > > > > > > Regards, > > > > > > Doug > > > > > > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > Software Engineer > > > UCAR - COSMIC, Tel. (303) 497-2611 > > > > > > On Mon, 4 Feb 2013, David Mertens wrote: > > > > > > > I believe PLplot hits all of these check-items. Unfortunately, it has > > > > no great champion. I stopped using it because I feared I > > > > would have to write too much C to bend it to my will. Not that I've had > > > > a dearth of C in my own plotting library work... :) > > > > David > > > > On Feb 4, 2013 4:22 AM, "Karl Glazebrook" <[email protected] > > > > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi everyone > > > > > > > > Surely there must be a modern C-callable (and implemented! No java or > > > > python please) plotting library which > > > > supports objects, transparency, GUI embedding,PDF etc., looks > > > > attractive, is cross-platform and is efficient for > > > > large datasets? > > > > > > > > Karl > > > > > > > > On 31/01/2013, at 7:12 PM, Timothy Pickering <[email protected] > > > > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > > > > > Based on the past few days of posts, I'd like to open up a thorny > > > > > > issue: > > > > > > > > > > > > Do we have a plotting package that installs smoothly across all > > > > > > three major platforms? > > > > > > > > > > > > I've been playing with python and matplotlib for a couple of months > > > > > > now, and although the OO interface is a > > > > royal pain, at least I know I can send a script to > > > > students/collaborators and it will just *work* for them. > > > > > > > > > > > > I've seen that PLplot is throwing up errors for some people, and > > > > > > now we have Gnuplot grumbling as well. PGPLOT > > > > is still difficult to install and not interactive-friendly.... > > > > > > > > > > > > If we want more PDL adopters, we should pick a plotting system and > > > > > > put all our energies in making that work > > > > flawlessly for a couple of years, so that interested people don't get > > > > discouraged. > > > > > > > > > > > > I also have a selfish reason - if we choose something other than > > > > > > PGPLOT, it means a rewrite of the PDL Book, and > > > > I don't want to make the investment of time if we suddenly decide that > > > > 'oops, $PLOTTING_SYSTEM isn't working > > > > anymore/new shiny thing is the way to go'. > > > > > > > > > > > > I'd be happy to get any plotting package working for the SciPDL Mac > > > > > > binary working, if we get a general > > > > consensus here. > > > > > > > > > > > > Matt > > > > > > > > > > i'm going to be an instigator again and point out that pgplot, > > > > > plplot, and gnuplot are all ~20 year old pieces of > > > > legacy software. at least gnuplot is actively maintained and evolving, > > > > but pgplot has hardly been touched in ~10 > > > > years. i've tried plplot a few times, but always ended up throwing up > > > > my hands after a short while. maintaining > > > > dependencies with packages like these will always be a headache and > > > > will hold back adoption and evolution of PDL. > > > > note that i haven't looking into prima at all, however. > > > > > > > > > > tying back into the previous discussion about notebook-type > > > > > interfaces like what ipython has i'd like to point > > > > out the existence of http://d3js.org/. ipython notebooks are great, but > > > > using matplotlib graphics within a browser > > > > is rather limiting. integrating something like D3 opens up a lot more > > > > flexibility and capability. a browser-based > > > > PDL shell that used D3 for plotting could be pretty kick butt.... > > > > > > > > > > tim > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > > > | T. E. Pickering, Ph.D. | Southern African Large Telescope | > > > > > | SALT Astronomer | SAAO | > > > > > | [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) (520) 305-9823 | > > > > > Observatory Road | > > > > > | [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) +27(0)214606284 | 7925 > > > > > Observatory, South Africa | > > > > > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > > > overflow error in /dev/null > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > Perldl mailing list > > > > > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > > > http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Perldl mailing list > > > > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > > > http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Perldl mailing list > > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > > http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Perldl mailing list > [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) > http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl > >
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