Gnuplot.py: Gnuplot | |
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This is to announce the release of version 1.5 of Gnuplot.py. Gnuplot.py is a Python [1] package that allows you to create graphs from within Python using the gnuplot [2] plotting program. Gnuplot.py can be obtained fromhttp://gnuplot-py.sourceforge.net/ Prerequisites (see footnotes): the Python interpreter [1] the Python Numeric module [3] the gnuplot program [2] Some ways this package can be used:
New features in this version:+ Added distutils support. + Broke up the module a bit for better maintainability. The most commonly-used facilities are still available through "import Gnuplot", but some specialized things have been moved to separate modules, in particular funcutils.py and PlotItems.py. + funcutils.tabulate_function() can be used to evaluate a function on a 1-D or 2-D grid of points (this replaces grid_function, which only worked with 2-D grids). + Added two helper functions, funcutils.compute_Data and funcutils.compute_GridData, which compute a function's values on a set of points and package the results into a PlotItem. + GridFunc is no longer an independent class; it is now a factory function that returns a GridData. GridFunc is deprecated in favor of funcutils.compute_GridData. + Changed set_option to work from a table, so that it doesn't need to be overloaded so often. + Implemented test_persist for each platform to make it easier for users to determine whether the `-persist' option is supported. + Added a prefer_persist option to serve as the default `persist' choice. + Following a suggestion by Jannie Hofmeyr, use "from os import popen" for Python 2.0 under Windows. I don't use Windows, so let me know how this works. + Added support for the `axes' and `smooth' options of the `plot' command. + Reworked the comment strings in an effort to make them work nicely with happydoc. Features already present in older versions:+ Two and three-dimensional plots. + Plot data from memory, from a file, or from an expression. + Support for multiple simultaneous gnuplot sessions. + Can pass arbitrary commands to the gnuplot program. + Object oriented, extensible design with several built-in types of plot items. + Portable and easy to install (nothing to compile except on Windows). + Support for MS Windows, using the `pgnuplot.exe' program. + Support for sending data to gnuplot as `inline' or `binary' data. These are optimizations that also remove the need for temporary files. Temporary files are still the default. Footnotes: ---------- [1] Python <http://www.python.org> is an excellent object-oriented scripting/rapid development language that is also especially good at gluing programs together. [2] gnuplot <http://www.gnuplot.org/> is a free, popular, very portable plotting program with a command-line interface. It can make 2-d and 3-d plots and can output to myriad printers and graphics terminals. [3] The Numeric Python extension <http://numpy.sourceforge.net/> is a Python module that adds fast and convenient array manipulations to the Python language. |