Graphics Plus/Graphics Plus.iso/amiga/plotting/gnuplot3.lzh/gnuplot/History

Text File | 1991-09-19 | 11KB | 296 lines

             GNUPLOT 3.0 RELEASE NOTES

This describes changes to gnuplot since version 2.02 (ie, 2.0
patchlevel 2).

Highlights:
-----------
Gnuplot now handles surfaces as well. A new command names 'splot' (for
surface plot) has been added for that purpose. A number of new 'set'
options for surfaces have also been added and include: isosamples,
view, contour, cntrparam, mapping and surface.  All tic/label/range
setting for x and y axes were extended for z as well.

The size of data file for both curves and surfaces is now independent
of the samples (and iso_samples) variables. Data structures will
automatically be extended to hold the entire data file.

New features:
-------------
3-d plotting with 'splot', and many auxiliary options.

New 'errorbars' plot style.

New 'using x:y{:z}' format (NOT COMPATIBLE WITH GNUPLOT 2.02).

Data file plotting (for both curves and surfaces) does not require
setting samples (and isosamples for surfaces) any more. Size is
increased on the fly, without affecting the sample rate of functions.

New makefile scheme for unix, that supports lots of flavors.

Command-line editing and history.

Adjustable display of plot border ('set border').

Set-commands 'x/y/zlabel' can now position the label.

Set-command 'title' can now position the title.

New time display command ('set time').

All PostScript devices were rewritten and merged into one (Color
Postscript is supported). Due to this many of the old postscript
terminal driver names are not supported; only 'postscript' is
recognized. Use 'help set terminal postscript' to find out how to get
your old favorite back, and more.

A 'gnuplot' mode for emacs in the file gnuplot.el.

SGI device was improved.

New option to 'set arrow' called 'nohead'.

List of all new commands:
-------------------------
splot

List of all new set-show commands:
---------------------------------
border, cntrparam, contour, isosamples, mapping, rrange, surface,
time, view, zlabel, ztics, zrange.

List of changed set-show commands:
----------------------------------
arrow, terminal, title, xlabel, ylabel, zlabel

New terminal drivers:
---------------------
vws, apollo, gpr apollo, dumb, BigFig, Super
VGA, ln03/hplj/hpdj, dxf.

Deletions:
----------
The gnut2p translator (translating gnutex to gnuplot) has been removed
from the standard distribution.  It is available for ftp separately at
cs.duke.edu as dist/sources/gnuplot/gnut2p.tar.Z

Bug fixes include:
------------------
Fix a bug in parametric type hangup.

Add a .sty file to fix indexing problem in manual.

Fix a bug in hpljii.

Fix a bug in FIG arrows.


                            ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

- New PostScript device by Russell Lang ([e-mail]).
- Several bug fixes, manual proofing, World Map by John Campbell
([e-mail]).
- Eliminating samples from data files, lasergnu, and errorbars by
David Kotz ([e-mail]).
- New history and line editing capability for Unix and MSDOS, bivariate
  functions and some bug fixes by Tom Tkacik ([e-mail]).
- New using x:y{:z} format by Dennis Linse ([e-mail]).
- Some polar enhancements, time display and some bug fixes by
Alex Woo ([e-mail]).
- Dumb terminal by Francois Pinard ([e-mail]).
- VWS device by Walter Speth ([e-mail]).
- BigFig device by ([e-mail]).
- XDF device by Florian Hiss ([e-mail]).
- HP Desk Jet device, overlay support for BCC and more efficient help
and pc.trm for MSDOS by Maurice Castro and Russell Lang
([e-mail]).
- New makefile scheme by Roque Donizete De Oliveira and David Kotz
([e-mail] and [e-mail]).
- The 3d extensions, contouring, Super VGA device, and bringing this new
version up by Gershon Elber ([e-mail]).

Other bug fixes/improvments:
= Tom Bopp ([e-mail])
= Kenneth H. Carpenter ([e-mail])
= Mark Christopher ([e-mail])
= Henk de Haan ([e-mail])
= David Gillespie ([e-mail])

Beta testers:
+ John Campbell ([e-mail])
+ Kenneth H. Carpenter ([e-mail])
+ Gershon Elber ([e-mail])
+ Pat Empleo ([e-mail])
+ David Kotz ([e-mail])
+ Russell Lang ([e-mail])
+ Tom Tkacik ([e-mail])
+ Roque Donizete De Oliveira ([e-mail])
+ Walter Speth ([e-mail])
+ Carsten Steger ([e-mail])

============================================================================

                     GNUPLOT 2.0 RELEASE NOTES

New terminal drivers: ATT6300, Roland DXY800A, EEPIC, emTeX, EPSON LX-800,
EPSON 60dpi, Fig, HP2648, HPGL, HP LaserJet, Imagen, Kermit-MS Tektronix
emulator, LaTeX, MCGA, NEC CP6 pinwriter, POSTSCRIPT, Proprinter, Star color
printer, Tandy DMP-130, Tektronix 410x, SUN, VGA, X11.

Additions:

Command-line arguments are accepted. They are treated as names of
files containing gnuplot commands. Gnuplot loads them, one by one, and
then exits.

Command 'plot' now has a 'title' option to change the information in
the key.  The 'with' option can now specify line type and point type.

Command 'pause'.

Command 'replot' allows the addition of extra plots.

Command 'save' now saves all the 'set' options, including the last
plot command.

Command 'set autoscale' now accepts autoscaling on the x axis for data
files. The default is autoscaling on both axes.

Command 'set noclip' disables clipping of points near the border. 'set
clip' reenables clipping. The default used to be 'clip', and is now
'noclip'. Clipping has also been extended to clip lines that extend
outside the borders: line plots are now clipped at the plot boundary.
Formerly, the line stopped at the last in-range data point.

Numerical labelling at tic marks on x and y axes.  Command 'set
format' allows the format of the tic mark labels to be altered.
Commands 'set xtics' and 'set ytics' allow for alphanumeric labels and
arbitrary tic positions.

Command 'set grid' adds a grid between the tic marks.

Improved key gives sample point or line types.  Key can be disabled
with the 'set nokey'. Key can be positioned anywhere.

Command 'set label' allows the placement of arbitrary text labels and
arrows.

Command 'set polar' for polar plots.

Command 'set offsets' for reducing the plotted area.  Useful for polar
plots.

Command 'set size' scales the displayed size of the plot.

Command 'set tics out' causes the tics to be drawn outwards from the
border.  Useful for impulse plots.

Command 'set title' places a text label above the plot.

Commands 'set xlabel' and 'set ylabel' place text labels on the x and
y axes respectively.  Some terminals will place the y label vertically
upwards on the left of the plot, others place the label horizontally
at the left of the plot.

Improved tics on log scales.

Extended comments: comments are allowed anywhere reasonable in the
input line, and continue to the end of the input line.

Line continuation (with \) is added.

Non-interactive use, through redirection or "load" command, is
improved. Error messages expanded to include file name and line
number, and to reprint command line if not interactive.

New plotting styles 'linespoints' and 'dots'.

Blank lines in data files denote "breaks". In lines and linespoints
plot styles, this breaks the curve being drawn and begins at the next
point, without changing the line or point types.

Completely new interactive help system that is similar to VMS help
system. A printed manual can be obtained in LaTeX, troff, or nroff and
is based on the same information as the interactive help.

PC version now compiles with the large model so that gnuplot will
compile with the above additions!

Bug fixes include:
------------------
Bug involving functions plotted on a logarithmic x axis is fixed.

Errors inside of loaded files now clean up and close files properly.

Numbers of the form xxxxe+nn are now acceptable (+ sign caused error).

Tics are now place inside the borders (some were outside).

Reverse axes now work properly.

Command 'set output ""' used to crash.

VMS was closing stdout, so 'set output' code changed to avoid closing
it.  VMS version of gnuplot now performs a SET TERM/NOWRAP itself.

Terminal is now reset before closing output file, changing terminal
type or exiting gnuplot.

Several old bugs have been superseded by new ones.


                            ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Unix PC, polar, pause, and offset additions were by John Campbell.
([e-mail])
The Turbo C additions were by Bill Wilson.
([e-mail])
Some of the labelling improvements and combining of these additions
were by Russell Lang.
([e-mail])
The LaTeX driver, the help system, and some of the labelling
improvements were by David Kotz.
([e-mail])
And of course, the vast majority of the program is by Colin Kelley
and Thomas Williams.
(pixar![e-mail])

=======================================================================

                      GNUPLOT 1.1 RELEASE NOTES

New terminal drivers: AED 512, BBN BitGraph, HP2623, POSTSCRIPT,
Selanar, Vectrix 384.  The PC version now supports Hercules and ATT
6300 monochrome graphics.  Thanks to those who sent these drivers in.

New commands: 'set dummy' and 'show dummy' to select the dummy
variable name; 'replot' to repeat the last 'plot' command.

The exclamation point (!) is now accepted as postfix factorial
operator.  The gamma() function is also included, if your C library
has gamma().  See GAMMA below.

Logical AND (&&) and OR (||) now short-circuit the way they do in C.
That is, the second && operand is not evaluated if the first is false;
the second || operand is not evaluated if the first is true.  The
ternary operator (?:) also does not evaluate the unused operand.  This
change allows for the definition of recursive functions, e.g. a
synonym for the ! factorial operator:

    fact(x) = (x<=1) ? 1 : x*fact(x-1)

GNUPLOT now has a much better memory allocation scheme, replacing most
fixed-size arrays with malloc()'d linked lists.  There is no longer
any artificial maximum on the number of simultaneous plots, number of
points in those plots, or the number of user-defined functions or
variables.  All these are limited only by the memory available to
malloc().  This is a big improvement for memory-starved machines like
PDP-11s or PCs.

Lines beginning with # (also ! in VMS) are treated as comments.  Only
the $ may now be used for a shell escape in VMS, since ! is a comment.

Several old bugs have been superseded by new ones.