psych@watserv1.waterloo.edu (R.Crispin - Psychology) (11/20/90)
(THIS IS VERY LONG) A couple of weeks ago I asked for information about the plotting package IGOR. I received the following replies. I summary people felt it was the best package for the kind of scientific plotting that we wish to do. Thanks to all who responded. Richard Crispin Dept. of Psychology University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G1 ============================================================ Return-Path: <souka@uh.msc.umn.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 11:59:54 -0600 From: "Omar Souka" <souka@uh.msc.umn.edu> Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package IGOR is exactly what you want. It's very fast and powerful, has its own macro language, has a large set of built in scientific functions, you can link your own code with it. It's definitely a good tool for a scientist. Omar Souka Minnesota Supercomputer Center souka@msc.edu ================================================================ From: jcd@ecegabriel.ncsu.edu (Joseph C. Davis) To: psych@watserv1 Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package In article <1990Nov2.164401.27802@watserv1.waterloo.edu> you write: >We have a faculty member here who is interested in doing some >plotting/charting. He would like something better than Cricket >Graph and is considering IGOR. If any one out there has comments >good or bad could you please send them to one of the addresses >below. He is interested in scientific graphs and has no need for >colour, 3D or pie charts. >Thanks i have used IGOR for exactly this purpose. the major problem with IGOR is that when you perform any operation on a set of data, the data must have a destination that is one of the existing sets of data. you can't just create a new set of data out of nowhere like you can in cricket. of course, you can load some dummy sets, but they must be the proper length to work. IGOR does some nice work with fits and smoothing, but it is NOT as easy a program to use as cricket. jcd / Joseph C. Davis / / North Carolina State University e-mail: jcd@ecegabriel.ncsu.edu / ================================================================ Return-Path: <hines@portia.stanford.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 13:45:00 PDT From: hines@portia.stanford.edu (Melissa Hines) Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package Richard, Our lab has been using Igor for about a year and a half (or is it two and a half years?). Anyway, we love it. It is super, does everything we want and much more, has great tech support, is fast, etc. I strongly suggest that you buy it. I have a couple of postings to comp.sys.mac that I wrote up shortly after receiving Igor and I will append those to the end of this message. These remarks are somewhat dated and do not talk about the latest version of Igor (1.2) which is even better/faster/more beautiful. If you have any more questions, please contact me. Melissa A. Hines Dept. of Chemistry Stanford University PS> Sorry the format of the following is so grotty. Written 5/21/89: I am in charge of the computer facilities for a rather large physical chemistry lab at Stanford University. There has been a lot of demand in our lab for a reasonable graphing package for the Macintosh. We have been using both Cricket Graph and Trapeze, but they are woefully inadequate for our needs. In particular we need software that can handle relatively large numbers of data points (up to 30,000 or so), print at the full resolution of our laser printer, and perform simple analysis. Recently we acquired IGOR from WaveMetrics, a new data analysis and graphics package aimed expressly at the scientific and engineering market. Igor has significantly exceeded our best expectations. After using Igor for approximately six weeks, I would like to share my enthusiasm with you. Before describing all of the features of Igor, let me first stress that Igor is not meant to be a Cricket Graph replacement! Igor is an extremely powerful tool and as such is not as simple to use as Cricket Graph or other low level graphing packages. In our lab, most people have had to spend a few hours playing with the examples in the manual to feel comfortable with the Igor environment. Although Igor does follow all of the usual Macintosh conventions and has a very friendly user interface, it does require a bit from the user. The first impression everyone has of Igor is that is _FAST_. I mean REALLY FAST. For example, for a graph of 1500 points, it takes approximately 11 seconds to load the data from disk and 7 seconds to graph it (on a Mac SE w/ 2 Meg of memory). Zooming in on a portion of the graph is almost instantaneous (~ 2 seconds). Igor is the only graphing package that I have used that uses off screen bitmaps to draw the data. By doing this, screen updates and such are blindingly fast (especially when compared to programs such as Cricket Graph and Trapeze). Another very nice feature of Igor is that the length of the data is limited only by available memory. Igor is not only a very advanced graphics package, it also contains very impressive data analysis tools. First, it can fit data to a curve (linear, polynomial, Gaussian, Lorentzian, exponential, etc.) and return statistics on the fit. They use routines from "Numerical Recipes" by Press, Flannery, Teukolsky and Vetterling, so I am fairly confident of their methods. Igor can also easily generate graphs of mathematical functions. There are also many features that I have not yet had occasion to use. Igor can perform both a fast Fourier transform and an inverse FFT. It has a number of built in functions such as Bessel functions, modified Bessel functions, binomial distributions, noise functions, gamma functions, and so on. It can perform complex arithmetic and display real and imaginary parts of functions. The list of capabilities is quite long, and I'm sure that a posting such as this could never do justice to its full capabilities. The graphing capabilities of Igor are equally impressive. In brief, it can: 1) print at the full resolution of the printer. This includes drawing hairlines. 2) handle subscripts and superscripts in the title, labels and annotations. 3) draw _true_ dashed and dotted lines 4) print multiple graphs per page or multiple pages per graph. When you do the latter, it even draws unobtrusive ticks to help you trim and line up the pages. Perhaps what impressed me the most about Igor is the technical support from WaveMetrics. After playing with Igor for a couple of weeks, I received a questionnaire on my impressions of their product. After filling it out, I e-mailed them some additional comments. In my letter I mentioned that I thought a peak integration macro would be useful to many users. The next morning I checked my mail (at 10 AM) and found the macro waiting for me! I have been in contact with them a couple of times since then and have found them to be very interested in my opinions and EXTREMELY helpful. I will restrain myself from relating my experiences with Cricket Graph. At this point you are probably wondering why you have never seen advertisements for such a wonderful product. Apparently, WaveMetrics would like to wait until the next version is out before stepping up their marketing. (Note: I believe the upgrade will be free to registered owners). In conclusion, I think that Igor is a MUST HAVE piece of software for anyone in the sciences or engineering. It can be ordered from: WaveMetrics P.O. Box 2088 Lake Oswego, OR 97035 (503) 635-8849 AppleLink D1832 I believe the current price is $195. ________________________________________ Written 8/1/89: In our lab, we have been using Igor, a data analysis and graphing program for the Macintosh by WaveMetrics, for about 4 months. We are EXTREMELY happy with it. I have been beta testing the next version, 1.10, and have just gotten permission to describe the new features to the net. The new version should be shipping within the next two weeks. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Igor, here is a brief summary of the current release, 1.0: * It is _VERY_ fast. Zooming and scale changes are almost instantaneous. * Length of data sets is limited only by available memory. * You can plot and manipulate mathematical functions easily. * Labels can have subscripts, superscripts, bold face, underlines, etc. * Igor graphs at full resolution of printer. * It has a very powerful macro language. * Many different types of data analysis are supported. FFT and IFFT (also smoothing and Hanning) linear least squares fit to lines, polynomials, Gaussians, Lorentzians, exponentials (single and double). integration and differentiation sorting error analysis on fits * In addition, WaveMetrics has always provided exemplary product support Igor 1.10 has many enhancements to the original release. These include: * Error bars are now fully supported. There are now a number of options. For example, error bars can be either a constant percentage of the value or can be entered individually. * Legends are now much easier to use. * The user now has full control over fine details such as the width of axis lines. Igor 1.10 also contains a number of completely new features. * PAGE LAYOUT: You can now position and size your graphs on the page by dragging and stretching them. You can print multiple graphs and tables on one page and even import PICTs from other programs. This is an extremely impressive and useful feature. * NON-LINEAR LEAST SQUARES FITTING TO _ANY_ FUNCTION: You can now enter any function you like and have Igor fit your data to it. You can also constrain parameters in the fit. * XOPs: XOPs are similar to HyperCard XCMDs. They allow you to write your own pieces of code to attach to Igor. For example, you can use them to do heavy duty number crunching and then pass the results back to Igor. Alternatively, you could use them to interface a Macintosh to an experiment. * BATCH MODE: Igor now has a special batch mode to allow you to analyze/plot/print the results of other programs in the background. Basically, you direct the output of the other program and the necessary commands to a special Igor batch file. Igor will then process the data while you work on the other program. In conclusion, we have found that Igor is an extremely useful and versatile program for data analysis and graphing on the Macintosh. I highly recommend it to anyone in science or engineering. Igor can be obtained directly from WaveMetrics: WaveMetrics@AppleLink.Apple.com (Internet) WaveMetrics (AppleLink) Last I heard, the price was $195. Melissa Hines Department of Chemistry Stanford University Hines@Cellbio.Stanford.Edu ----------------------------------- Return-Path: <hedstrom@sirius.UVic.CA> Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 16:17:10 PST From: hedstrom@sirius.UVic.CA (Brad Hedstrom) Subject: Info on IGOR graphics package I've used Igor for a couple of months and am quite impressed with it. The only thing that it doesn't have that I sometimes need is 3D plots. Everything else about it is excellent. _____________________________________________________________________________ Brad Hedstrom, University of Victoria, ECE Dept. Internet: hedstrom@sirius.uvic.ca UUCP: ...!{uw-beaver,ubc-vision}!uvicctr!hedstrom ================================================================ Return-Path: <howard@rpi.edu> To: psych@watserv1 Subject: IGOR Graphics Package Richard Crispin, I've been using IGOR for about a year now. I have found the package to be extremely useful and capable. Additionally I used the program for all the plots in my Ph.D. Thesis; the quality was excellent and I found no shortcoming. The only problem with the program is that it has a rather steep learning curve. I do not feel that this fact should stop anyone from trying IGOR since its power is unmatched and in my opinion is the only true "scientific" package out there for the mac. Jim Howard ================================================================ Return-Path: <"ANDREW::esmythe"@ATL.dnet.ge.com> Date: Mon, 5 Nov 90 08:47:58 EST From: Erich J Smythe <"ANDREW::esmythe"@ATL.dnet.ge.com> Subject: Re: IGOR To: PSYCH@watserv1 I use IGOR extensively in my own research. It is a 2D package based on a "wave" data structure. Waves can be constructed by data files, expressions, and functions/macros in IGOR's command and expression language. It supports the "mac--based" interface, a command interface, and a primative editor for entering function and macro definitions. For me it was money well spent. I can answer specific questions be email at the following address (the from field is likely to be wrong): esmythe@atl.dnet.ge.com or by phone at (609)866-6643. Wavemetrics, the people who sell IGOR, are at WaveMetrics@apple.com -erich smythe esmythe@atl.dnet.ge.com GE Advanced Technology Labs Moorestown, NJ ================================================================ Return-Path: <spollack@uceng.UC.EDU> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 08:41:15 -0500 From: steve pollack <Steve.Pollack@UC.EDU> To: psych@watserv1 Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package We use IGOR for a variety of applications and I have not found anything that comes close. Kaleidagraph is somewhat similar, but the interface is clumsy. If you have a routine set of procedures or a special data manipulation you need to perform, it is easy to program IGOR's macro language. Their support has been excellent, and they are planning a 3D graphing capability down the pike. I recommend it without hesitation _______________________________________________________________________ Steven K. Pollack | Assistant Professor | Department of Materials Science | I notice that you are still & Engineering | using polymers! University of Cincinnati | 498 Rhodes Hall ML#12 | - Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 | U.S.S. Enterprise pollack@ucunix.san.uc.edu | ________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================ Return-Path: <krboyce@ATHENA.MIT.EDU> Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 13:25:12 -0500 To: psych@watserv1 Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology We have been using IGOR here for several months, and it is GREAT! We use up to 60,000 points per graph, 10 graphs per "experiment", and it works very nicely. It's about a million times faster than Cricket Graph, and far more versatile. The macro facilities are quite extensive and easy to use. I especially like the user interface: You call up a dialog box from the standard menu interface, and as you click etc. in the box, it presents you with the command line it generates. When you click "do it", the command line is entered into the "history" window. Later, after you've done the same command a few times, you tend to pick up the command line and just type that, saving a reach for the mouse. Basically, it teaches you the keyboard shortcuts as you go along. This program is hands-down the best combination of user-friendliness and power of ANYTHING I've seen, on any machine., If you need to do a macro which does specific things to each point in the graph (not doing the same operation on each point), you will find it rather slow. In this case, you should also buy the XOP Toolkit, which basically allows you to write your own functions in C. Of course, you also need a compiler (either MPW or THINK) to do that. By the way, you need at least 1.5 Meg of free space to run it. We have it on a IIci with 8Meg, and right now we have IGOR set to 4500k partition size (for lots of big graphs). The portrait display is also nice for big experiments, but not necessary. --Kevin best e-mail: boyce@amo.mit.edu phone: (617) 253-0208 ================================================================ Return-Path: <owen@raven.phys.washington.edu> From: owen@raven.phys.washington.edu (Russell Owen) To: psych@watserv1 (R.Crispin - Psychology) Subject: Re: Info on IGOR graphics package Date: Tue, 6 Nov 1990 14:13:35 PDT Organization: University of Washington IGOR has a demo available, I believe. I suggest trying it before buying. I think IGOR is the best 2D graphing and analysis program available. For more analysis, or 3D, try something else (Maple? Mathematica?). IGOR has a slightly odd user iterface. It converts all operations into text strings (which can be used instead of the equivelent menu and dialog box operations, if you like). It does this conversion quickly and unobtrusively. Nonetheless, it takes a bit of getting used to. But it's well worth the effort, because it allows very powerful macros. It is a scientifically oriented program. It makes first-rate scatter and line graphs, but I doubt it does pie charts. It has excellent control over appearance and layout (e.g. axis labelling, line type, etc.) but doesn't offer fake 3-d depth and other business presentation crap. Minusus: - strictly x-y 2D graphing. No polar plots (a very serious omission for us). - absolutely no possible support of 3D graphing or analysis, period. Plusses: - excellent on-line help - fairly intuitive (but takes a bit of getting used to) - very powerful graphing and analysis - good support for graph layouts - damn fast - superb macro capability (powerful and easy to use) Russell Owen owen@raven.phys.washington.edu Astronomy Dept. FM-20 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195