Re: Should gnuplot become a programming environment?

[<pl...@pi...>]

On 10/30/14 15:41, Philipp K. Janert wrote:
>
>
> [snip]
>
>> That said, being able to add functions opens up huge possibilities
>> that avoids needing to pre-process data for trivial things like diff
>> and integration and other simple needs. Bulk data processing is still
>> better done outside of the plotting utility in tested code suites in
>> compiled code but this remains an incredibly useful feature.
>
> With huge possibilities come huge complexities.
> If not today, then eventually.
>
> Do we want them in gnuplot? Or should we keep
> scripting with scripting languages and plotting
> with gnuplot?
>
> Do we want differentiation and integration -
> in a PLOTTING program??? My answer is: hell, no!

I don't think such hard-line attitudes are helpful.

If I want to subtract the previous plot point from the current one to 
plot the first difference ( numerical approximation to the differential) 
I do not want to have to set up and external script for such a trivial 
task and then try to synchronise  the archiving of whatever external 
scripts I have with the gnuplot script I'm using to plot it.

Same with integration, it's a trivial case of successive addition of 
current point. It would be more effort to write a one-liner awk script 
to do this and then call the scritp before plotting from gnuplot, than 
to have a trivial gnuplot fn, and that would also mean duplication of 
the data file which may itself be substantial, ie an awful waste of 
effort all round.

If I want to do an FFT I would not try to do it in gnuplot script !!!!

Peter.



>
> Keep the numerical routines in Python or Octave
> or wherever. Let's keep the plotting stuff in
> gnuplot.
>
>>
>> I don't think there is a need to view this as 'taking on" other
>> languages or "loosing" to them. If I had a scripting task to do I
>
> I am not arguing from a developer's point of view,
> but from a user's one.
>
> Gnuplot's advantage over R or matlab was it's simplicity:
> just plot a file - all there is to it. Once this simplicity
> is gone, what is gnuplot's advantage (or niche)?
>
>> would use an existing tool not a plotting program, but if I need
>> manipulate or tweak  some data I'm plotting, having that ability
>> built-in is has a lot of merit. Documentation and archiving being a
>> key argument: all is in one file.
>
> [snip]
>
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