From graphics-request at octave dot org Mon Feb 13 14:36:07 2006 Subject: Re: Handle graphics plotting functions From: Petr Mikulik To: Shai Ayal Cc: Sebastien Loisel , octave-graphics , michaelschmid@users.sourceforge.net Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:34:06 +0100 (CET) > handle graphics > =========== > I see handle graphics as way for the user to gain total control of the > plot. This allows for tweaking which is so often needed when making a > formal plot (i.e. for a paper/presentation) and for inventing whole > new kinds of graphs and building them using the primitive building > blocks available. Both these features are missing in gnuplot. While > doing it the "handle-graphics" way might not be the best way to do it, > it is the current de-facto standard (==matlab). Those features are not missing in gnuplot, but in Octave! As your page http://octplot.sourceforge.net/plotFunctionAnalogy.html demonstrates, the filled bar graph is available in gnuplot 4.0 http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo/fillstyle.html -- please fix your web page which mentioned 4.1 -- but Octave (bar.m) just does not use it. There are several gnuplot'ish .m files getting or improving compatibility with Matlab, e.g. ginput.m, image.m using gnuplot, etc., which are neither in Octave nor in Octave-Forge. Nobody cares (enough). Hint: http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/links.html IMHO, instead of developing a new graphics package from scratch (or even several of them), which takes a lot of time and effort, the best way is to update the current Octave image subsystem properly for all gnuplot 4.0 features. That would be available immediately! Isn't here somebody who would do the job? Note: This letter isn't against any "handle graphics" subsystems or whichever future may come, but wants to show that we can get more M* compatibility immediately. PS: Everywhere on http://octplot.sourceforge.net/, please change "GnuPlot" to "gnuplot". --- PM