From octave-graphics-request at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu  Fri Feb 25 11:40:25 2000
Subject: Re: gnuplot (Was: Re: New on the list : new plotting tool) 
From: Teemu Ikonen <tpikonen at pcu dot helsinki dot fi>
To: Tim Piessens <Tim dot Piessens at esat dot kuleuven dot ac dot be>
cc: Discussion list octave-graphics <octave-graphics at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu>
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 19:40:21 +0200 (EET)

On Fri, 25 Feb 2000, Tim Piessens wrote:

> Indeed it will be difficult to support other plotting packages, but
> data-representation is extremely important in data analysis software. I
> think many people will start using octave when data representation is
> more sofisticated.

I agree. What should be done is to find a suitable set of plotting
commands (cloning these from matlab would not be a bad idea) and something
that has the same effect on plot outlook as matlabs handle
graphics. Although I don't think copying the handle system is wise,
perhaps something based on octaves structures would be nicer?

After that an implementation using gnuplot or plplot should be a
straightforward matter. Octave users could then switch between
plotting programs as they now can switch between gnuplot and plplot, but
at least we would have a consistent user-level api.

Of course if somebody comes up with a gee-whiz free plotting program which
does everything from drawing points to volumetric rendering, the api could
be then augmented to include the wanted functionality and the older
plotting programs should just reply 'unimplemented in FooPlot' to new
commands.

t.