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1992-05-06
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From: Jason L. Tibbitts III <honp9@menudo.uh.edu>
Organization: Blob Shop Programmers
Subject: REVIEW: Multiplot XLNd (beta)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Keywords: application, scientific, data processing
Reply-To: Markus Buchhorn <markus@mso.anu.edu.au>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Multiplot XLNd (beta) is a quick-look plotting package, capable of
producing publication quality plots. It's intuitive enough to just
run with little instruction, and powerful enough for those wanting
extra features. It's one I recommend to my co-workers around the
observatory here. In short, an excellent product, and even better: PD
-------
I should add that I posted this review to the Amiga-scientific mailing
list for discussion, and with the exception of the author, had no
comments either way. Some of the comments made by Alan are included
near the end [I don't think I misquoted you too much, Alan :-)].
Furthermore - this is still a beta release, so no conclusions can be drawn
regarding the final product. Note that the version has come a long way though
(since at least FF#231), and keeps getting better, with more features.
Multiplot XLN needs to be distinguished from Multiplot which is Tim
Mooney's program which has evolved along diferent lines.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Review of: Multiplot XLNd beta
Authors : Alan Baxter, Tim Mooney
Status : Freely distributable (subject to constraints - see documentation)
Requires : WB 1.3 or higher (yes, 2.0 is possible, according to the Docs)
1/2M RAM.
Runs from Hard Disk (quite well!), and runs from CLI or WorkBench. Data files
can be saved having Multiplot as the tool for their icon.
A loong time ago I tried a plotting package called Multiplot, I can't remember
the version number. I didn't like it. It was chunky, clunky and uncomfortable
to use. Recently however I saw an update notice with a whole bunch of
fixes and new features. Being the sporting type, I decided to give it another
go :-). I was more than pleasantly surprised. This is now a useful package,
i.e. one I consider using in my work.
MP is an x-y plotting package that reads in plain text files, containing
columns of numbers representing your data + errors. It can also contain some
keywords that tell MP how to plot the data, but the main use I feel is to just
read in the data, then interactively clean up the presentation before printing
it.
It runs on an interlaced screen, with number of bitplanes and overscan
optional settings. I don't have a flicker fixer, so interlace can be
irritating - but the default colours aren't too bad, so I can live with it
for the time being. Anyway, the colours are adjustable from within the program.
Having loaded your data file, MP defaults to a 'draw each point as a box and
connect the points' setting. Now is where the elegance of MP becomes evident.
Click once on any point and it selects the data-set that point belongs to,
highlighting it. You can have an unlimited number of distinct data-sets in MP.
If you double-click on a data-set you get a requestor, which allows you to
adjust everything about the way it is represented, point-type, size-of-points,
line-type, colour, how the data is presented (only line,only points, both
line/points, step, impulse) or to get rid of/hide a data-set away from the
plot. Every time you finish with that requester, the plot is redrawn. Even my
plots with >1200 points are redrawn very quickly.
If you double click alongside the x or y axes (and you're not near one of
the labels) you get an axis requestor. This allows you to change the length
of the axis (min/max values) if the default is no good, invert the axes,
change to log or linear scales (so lin/lin,log/lin,lin/log,log/log plots are
all possible) and to lock the axes - which basically stops it changing the axes
if you make further adjustments, like zooms etc. More on that later.
You can select an individual point/set of points, as opposed to the whole
data-set, and edit the points individually ('Hmmm, that 6 sigma point would
look better hidden over here...':-) )
Double-clicking above the plot gives you a requestor for the plot title,
written in a fairly large font. This title is immovable, unlike almost
any other piece of text on the plot. You can pick up axes labels,
numeric labels, and move them or edit them. You can also add a label
anywhere on the page by selecting a menu-item.
This leads me to the menu-options. The easiest way to discuss these is
to just read them off and briefly list/discuss the more interesting ones.
Here is where the real power of MP is hidden, as opposed to the elegance :-)
PROJECT:
Save As: This allows you to save the plot in any of the following formats:
ILBM, HPGL, Draw, mCAD, IntroCAD, PostScript, EPSF and a raw data
file. I only use the PS options so I can't comment on the others.
The PS is quite good, and happily read into Andrew Aylward's POST
PostScript interpreter.
Print Preview: for those of you with printers (unlike me :-( )
Print Setup: A nice requester pops up, allowing you to change from
Landscape to Portrait mode, to adjust the overall scale of the
plot in %ile units. There's also a graphic representation
of how much of the page is covered by the plot, which adjusts
as you change the scaling/orientation. You can move this around
to determine where on the page the plot will appear. Very Nice !
EDIT:
This interfaces MP with the clipboard. Cut/Paste/Undelete/Copy/Delete are
all available.
Add Text: What it says. Your string will appear somewhere on the page, and
you can then pick it up and put it wherever you want it. You can
do this at any stage.
ACTIONS:
Mouse Action: Select/Zoom/Slide
The Mouse can be used in 3 ways. In select mode you can do
all the stuff above. In Zoom, you can drag-select a region of
the plot, which is then plotted with the same characteristics
as the original plot. The axes adjust - unless you've locked
them. The Slide mode = Pan mode. You can slide the plot around
the plot box. The axes slide in this case -unless you've locked
them.
Axes locks can also be set via the menu here.
OPTIONS:
Crosshairs: Turns the cursor, in whatever action-mode, into a crosshair.
Grid : Toggles: Draw a grid on the plot.
Axes : Can be just x/y or complete box, or none. (One could do diagrams
with this mode)
Sign.fig. : Let's you limit the number of sign. figures used on numbers on
axes and formulae.
Errorbars : Toggles error bar drawing on and off. Note that error bars can
now be asymmetric with this new release ! At this stage Y-dirn
error-bars only, but I believe Errors in X will be supported
in an upcoming version.
FUNCTIONS:
Sort Data Set : Sorts the data-set by x values.
Smooth : Smooths the data by filtering or by interpolation
Linear Fit : Fits a straight line in current coord system, i.e. takes
lin/log axes into account to fit exponentials or whatever.
Polynomial Fit: As above, but to higher orders.
The equation of the fit is written into the right hand margin as a legend,
along with a section of line representing it there. Both smoothing and fitting
generate a new data set with points, so you can edit them the same way that you
can edit your own data. You could smooth the data first, then fit a line to the
equispaced points of the smoothed data-set.
So, that covers in a very quick fashion, most of the major features of MP.
It is very intuitive and quick to learn. The documentation is quite good,
although once you get to know MP, I found that it could be organised a bit
better.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What follows is a list of things I would like to see/see fixed, I'm just
intrigued by, or I can't see what I'm doing wrong. No particular or