#+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