Hi all, i've created a Graphics::PDL documentation page, which presents a short comparative review of the various PDL::Graphics modules. The aim is to help beginners find easily which PDL::Graphics module is better adapted to their needs. Here is the end result:
https://github.com/mascip/pdl/blob/doc-graphics/Basic/Pod/Graphics.html I've finally learned to use GitHub, so i created a doc-graphics branch here: https://github.com/mascip/pdl/tree/doc-graphics You will find the Graphics.pod (and Graphics.html) files in Basic/Pod/ Please tell me what you think, correct me where i write wrong stuff, and don't hesitate to participate. Pierre "mascip" On 3 April 2013 00:36, Pierre M <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > no time to work on this at the office finally, i drafted this with > lots of copy-pasting and re-arranging, from home (it's passed midnight > now, time for bed). No time to put it in a POD file now. If no-one > does i'll probably do it in a few weeks. > I'd appreciate a feedback. Or if someone wishes to take over this > little project and finish it, it's even better =o) > > I hope this helps other PDL newcomers. > Thank you for your explanations Craig, Chris and Joel (in your blog > post commentary) > Pierre > > PS: check my previous email (26th of March - same conversation thread > as this email) for ideas of which other PDL documentation pages should > link to this (potential) PDL::Graphics page. The main idea is to have > this one central page of PDL::Graphics info page in one place, and > then other pages refer to it. Details in my previous email. > > > ~ ~ ~ Here we go : > > PDL::Graphics > > PDL has full-featured plotting abilities. Unlike MATLAB, PDL relies > more on third-party libraries for its plotting features: Prima, > Gnuplot, OpenGL, PLplot and PGplot. PDL has several plotting modules > that you can choose from, here is a short guide: > > * Newest PDL::Graphics modules > > PDL::Graphics::Simple - unified backend-independent plotting interface for PDL > > Best for: Easiest to install (no external dependencies *** TODO: IS > THIS TRUE ? ***). Backend-independent output. > > PDL::Graphics::Simple implements all the functionality used in the > PDL::Book examples, and it will probably be the easiest PDL::Graphics > module that you will install. Because it is backend-indendent, the > plot you get will always be what you asked for, regardless of which > plotting engine you have installed on your system. > > Only a small subset of PDL's complete graphics functionality is > supported -- each individual plotting module has unique advantages and > functionality that are beyond what PDL::Graphics::Simple can do. For > example 2D plotting is supported, but 3D plotting is not. > > PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot > > Best for: publication-quality 2D and 3D plots > > Gnuplot is widely used and produces publication-quality plots. It is > also interactive: you can pan, scale, and rotate both 2-D and 3-D > plots. And its API is powerful, simple and intuitive. > > A video tutorial is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXDQL3rZ_0 > > PDL::Graphics::Prima > > Best for : Integration of your plots into your application GUI. > Possibility to create a dedicated GUI to let your application users > interact with the plotted data. > > PDL::Graphics::Prima lets you focus on what you want to visualize > rather than the details of how you would draw it. Its killer feature > is that it belongs the the Prima GUI environment (an > alternative to Tk, Gtk, Wx, etc). Prima provides an > array of useful interactive widgets and a simple but powerful > event-based programming model. These tools allow you to build > interactive data visualization and analysis applications with > sophisticated plotting and intuitive user interaction in only a few > hundred lines of code. Or more simply, to include a plot into an > application. > > For this reason, PDL::Graphics::Prima's API is more complex than > PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot's. It is advised to start with PDL::Graphics > Prima::Simple, which focuses on the plotting functions and does not > mess with Widgets. A tutorial is available here: > http://search.cpan.org/~chm/PDL-2.006/Demos/Prima.pm > As well as a video tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXDQL3rZ_0 > > PDL::Graphics::TriD > > Best for: Plotting heavy 3D images, fast. > > The native PDL 3D graphics library using OpenGL as a backend for 3D > plots and data visualization. With OpenGL, it is easy to manipulate > the resulting 3D objects with the mouse in real time. > > OpenGL makes PDL::Graphics::TriD a lot faster than Gnuplot to > manipulate 3D images. But Gnuplot's output is publication quality, and > someone told that Gnuplot it is easier to manipulate (*** TODO: IS > THIS TRUE ? ***) (please check it out yourself). If you manipulate > heavy images, PDL::Graphics::TriD might be the thing for you. > > * Older PDL::Graphics modules - still up, running, well maintained and > widely used > > PDL::Graphics::PLplot > > Best for: Plotting 2D functions as well as 2D and 3D data sets. > > This is an interface to the PLplot plotting library. PLplot is a > modern, open source library for making scientific plots. It supports > plots of both 2D and 3D data sets. PLplot is best supported for > unix/linux/macosx platforms. It has an active developers community and > support for win32 platforms is improving. > > > PDL::Graphics::PGPLOT > > Best for: Plotting 2D functions and data sets. > > This is an interface to the venerable PGPLOT library. PGPLOT has been > widely used in the academic and scientific communities for many years. > In part because of its age, PGPLOT has some limitations compared to > newer packages such as PLplot (e.g. no RGB graphics). But it has many > features that still make it popular in the scientific community. _______________________________________________ Perldl mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.jach.hawaii.edu/mailman/listinfo/perldl
