amr@egr.duke.edu (Anthony M. Richardson) (03/19/91)
I just uploaded two files to pub/next/submissions on the Purdue archive. The files are NXplplot.tar.Z and plplot.tar.Z. Plplot is a library of C routines that can be used for creating scientific graphs. It does 2D, 3D and contour plots. You can do 2D linear-linear, log-linear, linear-log, log-log and polar graphs. Multiple line styles and fill patterns are supported. Stroke fonts are used for annotation and almost 1000 symbols are available. The library has been ported to a variety of machines, from a Cray-Y/MP to a PC. It took me just a little over an hour to do the NeXT port. The code hasn't been NeXTified though (i.e. there is no NeXT specific code and hence no NeXTStep interface), maybe when I get some documentation from NeXT I can figure out how to add the NeXT specific stuff. This library is useless unless you have the C compiler! You have to write a driver program to call the Plplot graphics routines. Several example programs are included to get you started. You have to run the driver from a Terminal and you will be prompted for a PostScript graphics file name. You can then view the graph using "open graphics_file_name". The library (compiled on an 040 NeXTStation), fonts, example programs, and documentation (in LaTeX) are in NXplplot.tar.Z. Installation is fairly easy, so if you are interested, download NXplplot.tar.Z, compile one of the example programs, and see if it appeals to you. The source is in plplot.tar.Z. Tony amr@egr.duke.edu