Re: First release candidate for gnuplot 6

[Tatsuro M. <tma...@ya...>]

Hello
Thanks for your hard and excellent work.

BTW, 
--enable-stable-sort
seems to be missing on 6.0.rc1 but is active on the dev. branch.
Is this intentional?

Tatsuro

> ----- Original Message -----
> 
> From: "Ethan A Merritt" <me...@uw...>
> To: "beta" <gnu...@li...>
> Date: 2023/07/21 金 12:16
> Subject: First release candidate for gnuplot 6
> 
> 
> The "testing" directory on SourceForge now has a tarball for gnuplot-6-0-rc1
> 
>    https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/files/gnuplot/testing/gnuplot-6.0.rc1.tar.gz
> 
> This is a first release candidate for version 6.0.
> 
> Nine years ago we went through three release candidates and six months of
> testing before releasing 5.0.  I expect that finalizing version 6.0 will
> go faster, but we will see.   Compared to the v4->v5 transition,
> I think v5->v6 introduces a larger number of new features but fewer
> changes that may affect existing scripts or user expectations.
> 
> 
> 
> 		Release Notes
> 		=============
> 
> Version 6.0 is the start of a new stable release series.
> Work on gnuplot 6 has proceeded in parallel with the incremental updates to
> version 5.4 over the past three years.  The new version introduces extensions
> to the gnuplot command language, support for new output protocols, and
> additional plotting styles.  Backwards compatibility is given high priority
> in gnuplot development, so users should find no significant changes required
> for techniques or code they are currently using with gnuplot 5.
> 
> Your feedback from testing of this release candidate will contribute to
> the success of a full 6.0 release expected later in 2023.
> 
> 	Features introduced in version 6
> 	================================
> 
> For a detailed list of new features, with illustrations, see
>   http://gnuplot.info/docs_6.0/NewFeatures.html
> 
> For more example plots see
>   http://gnuplot.info/demo_6.0/
> 
> - Function blocks and scoped variables
> - Larger collection of special and complex-valued functions
> - New plot styles
>         o 2D plot style `with surface` works in 2D polar coordinates to produce a
>           solid-fill gridded representation of the plane. This is analogous to the
>           use of dgrid3d and pm3d to produce a 3D gridded surface.
>         o 2D plot style `with sectors` renders one annular segment ("sector") for
>           each line of input data. This style can generate pie and donut charts,
>           windrose charts, and a polar equivalent to sparse-matrix heatmaps.
>         o 2D plot style `with lines` now has a filter option `sharpen`.
>           This filter detects spikes in a function plot that would be missed or
>           under-represented due to coarse sampling.  It adds an additional
>           sampling point at the location of each such peak.
> - Hulls, masks, and smoothing
>         o A cluster of 2D points can be replaced by a bounding polygon ("hull").
>           Both convex hulls and concave hulls (χ-shapes) are supported.
>         o Any hull or other closed path can be used as a mask to display only
>           selected regions of a pm3d surface or image plot.
>         o New smoothing option "smooth path" can be used on 2D and 3D curves
>           that are not monotonic on x or y.  This allows smoothing of hulls.
> - Named palettes
>         o The current palette can be saved to a named colormap for future us.
>         o A predefined palette named "viridis" is provided.
>         o Plots can specify a previously saved palette by name.
>           This permits the use of multiple palettes in a single plot command.
>         o Named palettes can be edited to contain an alpha channel.
> - New built-in functions and array operations
>         o palette(z) returns the current RGB palette color mapping for z.
>         o rgbcolor("name") returns the 32bit ARGB value for a named color.
>         o index(Array, element) returns the first index i for which Array[i]
>           is equal to element.
>         o split("string", "separator") unpacks the fields in a string into
>           an array of strings.
>         o join(array, "separator") is the complement to split().
>           It concatenates the elements of a string array into a single string.
>         o `stats <non-existent file>` yields a testable value with no error;
>           useful to avoid errors or warnings in scripts.
> - Program control flow
>         o New syntax if {...} else if {...} else {...}
>         o XDG base directory conventions for configuration files are supported.
>         o `unset warnings` suppresses output of warning messages to the console.
>         o The `fit` command is protected by exception handling. Control always
>           returns to the next line of input even in the case of fit errors.
>           On return FIT_ERROR is non-zero if an error occurred.
>         o "Watchpoints"  are target values associated with individual plots
>           in a graph. As that plot is drawn, each component line segment is
>           monitored to see if its endpoints bracket the target value of a
>           watchpoint coordinate (x, y, or z) or function f(x,y).
>           If a match is found, the [x,y] coordinates of the match point are
>           saved for later use.  Possible uses include
>                 - find the intersection points of two curves
>                 - find zeros of a function
>                 - find and notate where a dependent variable or function f(x,y)
>                   crosses a threshold value
>                 - use the mouse to track values along multiple plots simultaneously
> - New terminals and terminal options
>         o Terminals that display graphics in the same window as text entry now
>           support pseudo-mousing; i.e. they respond to arrow keys and other
>           hot-key bindings during "pause mouse".
>         o New terminals kittygd and kittycairo provide in-window graphics for
>           terminal emulators that support the kitty protocol.
>         o New terminal webp generates a single frame or an animation sequence
>           using webp encoding. Frames are generated using pngcairo,
>           then encoded through the WebPAnimEncoder API.
>         o New terminal block for text-mode pseudo-graphics uses Unicode block
>           or Braille characters to offer improved resolution compared to the
>           dumb or caca terminals.
>         o latex terminals standalone mode updated to work with texlive2023
> - Miscellaneous other new features
>         o Time unit settings for major and minor axis tics.  For example,
>           minor tic marks can be placed at exactly one month intervals.
>         o The character sequence $# in a using specifier evaluates to the total
>           number of columns available in the current line of data.
>           "plot FOO using 0:(column($# - 1))" plots the last-but-one field of each row.
>         o keyword binvalue=avg plots the average, rather than the sum, of binned data.
>         o "set colorbox bottom" places the color box underneath the plot.
>         o "set pm3d spotlight" adds a user-controlled spotlight to the lighting model.
>         o New key layout options to force specific width or number of columns.
>           Automatic positioning of the key on the page can be manually tweaked
>           by giving an offset.
>         o "set isotropic" adjusts the axis scaling in both 2D and 3D plots such
>           that x, y, and z axes all have the same scale.
>         o Text rotation angles are not limited to integral degree values.
>         o Data-driven color assignments in plot style "histograms".
> 
> 
>     happy gnuplotting
> 
> 	Ethan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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