#+TITLE:     Plotting Tools

#+AUTHOR:    Anoop Jacob Thomas

#+EMAIL:     info@fossee.in

#+DATE:      2011-05-10 Tue

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* GNUPlot

** About the GNUPLOT

GNUPlot is a portable command-line driven graphical utility for Linux,

OS/2, MS Windows, OSX, VMS, and many other platforms. It was

originally created to allow scientists and students to visualize

mathematical functions and data interactively, but has grown to

support many non-interactive uses such as web scripting. It is also

used as a plotting engine by third-party applications like Octave.

GNUPlot supports many types of plots in either 2D and 3D. It can draw

using lines, points, boxes, contours, vector fields, surfaces, and

various associated text. It also supports various specialized plot

types.

** List of Courses/Subjects/Areas where GNUPLOT can be used

   - Plotting 2D and 3D graphs

   - Data Analysis and Visualization

   - Vector Science

   - Education, Science and Engineering

   - Data transformations and filters

   - Preparing/polishing graphs for final presentation

   - Publishing graphs in print or on the Web

   - Graphical Analysis

** Learning Resources for GNUPLOT

   - Documentations: http://www.gnuplot.info/documentation.html

   - Tutorial Learnig and help: http://www.gnuplot.info/help.html

* Xmgrace

** About the Xmgrace

Grace is a WYSIWYG tool to make 2D plots of numerical data. It runs

under various (if not all) flavors of Unix with X11 and M*tif (LessTif

or Motif). It also runs under VMS, OS/2, and Windows

(95/98/NT/2000/XP). Its capabilities are roughly similar to GUI-based

programs like Sigmaplot or Microcal Origin plus script-based tools

like Gnuplot or Genplot. Its strength lies in the fact that it

combines the convenience of a graphical user interface with the power

of a scripting language which enables it to do sophisticated

calculations or perform automated tasks.  Grace is derived from Xmgr

(a.k.a. ACE/gr), originally written by Paul Turner.  From version

number 4.00, the development was taken over by a team of volunteers

under the coordination of Evgeny Stambulchik. You can get the newest

information about Grace and download the latest version at the Grace

home page.  When its copyright was changed to GPL, the name was

changed to Grace, which stands for "Graphing, Advanced Computation and

Exploration of data" or "Grace Revamps ACE/gr". The first version

of Grace available is named 5.0.0, while the last public version of

Xmgr has the version number 4.1.2.  Paul still maintains and develops

a non-public version of Xmgr for internal use.  Xmgrace is available

in Ubuntu repository.

** List of Courses/Subjects/Areas where Xmgrace can be used

   - Plotting 2D Graphs

   - Numerical Analysis

   - Advanced Computation and Exploration of Data

   - Scientific and Engineering

** Learning Resources for Xmgrace

   - User Guide: http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/doc/UsersGuide.html

   - An Xmgrace Tutorial: http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/reu/grace.tutorial.html

   - Forum: http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/phpbb/

* Xfig

** About Xfig

Xfig is an interactive drawing tool which runs under X Window System

on most UNIX-compatible platforms, including Mac OS X and any X server

under Microsoft Windows.  In Xfig, figures may be drawn using objects

such as circles, boxes, lines, spline curves, text, etc. It is also

possible to import images in formats such as GIF, JPEG, EPS,

etc. Those objects can be created, deleted, moved or

modified. Attributes such as colors or line styles can be selected in

various ways. For text, many fonts are available.  A three button

mouse is recommended to work with Xfig, although, one/two button mouse

can also be configured to work with Xfig.  It is possible to embed

LaTeX mathematical formulae in block diagrams created using Xfig.

** List of Courses/Subjects/Areas where Xfig can be used

   - Xfig can be used in any area including engineering for creating drawing objects such as circles, boxes, lines, spline curves, text, etc.

** Learning Resources for Xfig

   - User Manual: http://www.xfig.org/userman/

   - Spoken Tutorials: http://spoken-tutorial.org/Xfig_Spoken_Tutorials

** Where Xfig is used

   - Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay