[SciPy-dev] Contouring algorithm in xplt

[Fernando Perez]

> Plotting is such a hang-up right now for the adoption of SciPy that I
> wonder if it wouldn't be wise to port xplt to Windows (I actually don't
> think it would take that long and I could hire a student to do over the
> next few months).
> 
> It's not the ideal long-term solution but it would give us a known, fast
> plotting interface (kind of like Matlab 4.2 plotting) for simple plots and
> we could then continue to develop chaco as the long-term solution without losing
> valuable potential contributors who can't find the plotting package, or
> get it to work.
> 
> Perhaps all of this is already available with gnuplot and we just need to
> do a better job of interfacing with it, but I'm not sure.

I've held back from even looking at xplt because I find gnuplot pretty much 
ok.  Especially if one uses the cvs gnuplot with mouse support for zooming 
interactively, I actually _really_ like it.  And its plotting/eps quality is 
very good for 2-d graphs.  Gnuplot may feel old-school, but it's solid 
software (it's been around forever).

In IPython I extended the original Gnuplot.py a fair bit, to the point where 
the gnuplot interface exposed by ipython is IMHO pretty usable.  Generating 
eps output is much easier, and sipmle x-y plots can be done with much less 
fuss than the original Gnuplot.py demands.  I did all the 2-d plots of my 
thesis with it last year, with very good results and no hangups.

For fancy 3d work I rely on MayaVi, which gets better every day.

All the code in ipython is available not just for download, but I'm willing to 
change the licensing (as I've said before) to anything needed for scipy's 
purposes.


Just some thoughts.

Best,

f.