Re: change handling of time data for 5.0?

[Karl R. <ra...@un...>]

Am 06.10.2014 um 17:01 schrieb sfeam:
> On Monday, 06 October 2014 12:53:07 PM Karl Ratzsch wrote:
> 
>> Wasn´t the idea to deprecate "set xdata time" because it always
>> changes the ticslabel format type? I don´t see how it is still
>> necessary now, except for backward compatibility, of course.
> 
> 
> I'm not following you here. If we deprecated "set xdata time",
> wouldn't we just have to introduce another command that did the
> same thing? What would be the point?

There is no need for a replacement, i think. timecolumn() and strptime()
can handle all timedata input. Plus "_data time" is limited to certain
columns, depending on the plot style, and it is limited to one format.

So in many cases, people cannot use "_data time" anyway. For the sake of
a uniform UI, i´d say don´t use it at all.

> The thing that we might want to change is that "set xdata time"
> might stop _also_ affecting 'set xtics time'. That would make the
> input/output separation more complete, but would not be backwards
> compatible.

Ah. We´ve been talking under different presumptions. ;-)
Here´s mine:

It´s rather impossible to really separate in/output with "set xdata
time", because it´s nomenclature says "plot abscissa" when it really
means "first input column". As this can´t be fixed, i say keep it for
backward compatibility, but rebuild the functionality otherwise.

The functionality we already have now, with timecolumn(), strptime() and
"set _tics time", so i thought the change ought to be made now, with 5.0
at the door.

One small thing is still missing, imho: "set arrow" et al. should check
if coordinates are set to time mode with "set _tics" (as it checks for
"xdata time" now), and use the format set via "set timefmt" in that
case. (not the one used to format the tic labels.)

Additional features are possible, of course:

One could for example introduce something like "set data <colnum>
{time|date|..} {format}" so people don´t have to use the lenghty
timecolumn() function every time.


What´d you think?

  Best, Karl



-- 
Karl-Friedrich Ratzsch (Dipl. Chem.)
Freiburger Materialforschungszentrum / Universität Freiburg
Stefan-Meier-Straße 21, 79104 Freiburg im Breisgau
Tel. 0761/203-4748 Fax:-4701
ra...@un...