Re: with parallelaxes dumps core

[Daniel J S. <dan...@ie...>]

On 01/27/2015 11:44 AM, Philipp K. Janert wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>> One comment, though: before going down this
>>> path (of extending the permissible number of
>>> cols in "using") very far, let's consider
>>> whether this is the right way to do it.
>>>
>>> Already, entering 7 explicit col numbers is a
>>> pain. Entering 35 (or whatever) different ones
>>> is simply not practical.
>>
>> Well, as with binary data, it could be that the data file and the
>> command itself are constructed by automation, i.e., a computer
>> program or script.  Plus, it isn't that difficult to build up a long
>> command in an input file using an editor.
>>
>
> Maybe so, but I really consider it a mistake
> to rely on it, ie: designing the UI under
> the assumption that the user automates.

There are plenty of programs that use gnuplot in an automated fashion. 
Large amounts of data isn't something new.  But the parallel axes plots 
can only be so many before spatial resolution is lost.  That is, if 
there were one hundred parallel axes, it would be difficult to resolve 
any useful information between axes.  Then again, if somehow the user 
wanted 100 axes strewn across some really wide bitmap that say is put 
into an HTML viewer so that a scroll bar could be used to scan across 
all axes, then maybe.  In any case, it seems that a dynamic number of 
axes is the way to go.


>> set parallelaxis layout 7,1
>
> I think this is going in a similar direction to what I
> said earlier - treat it as its own beast, but more
> generally. The idea of hitching onto the "multiplot"
> features strikes me as interesting. That might deliver
> the "star plot" application for (almost) free, by the way.

I kind of like that approach instead of putting parallel axes "inside" 
of "plot".  As Ethan's previous post described, the axes thought of as 
an object (structure, pointer) makes a lot of sense.  I'd rather have 
the syntax sort of reflect what is happening internally--somehow that 
seems more flexible, say if the user wants to put data points on the 
axes (writing "with parallelaxes with points" seems dodgy).

Dan