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ilembitov

Member

Registered: 2008-10-07

Posts: 124

Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

Hi, all.
afaik, CSV (comma separated value) is a format supported by all modern spreadsheet apps (including apps). However, CSV can only store values, and not any formulas, is that right?
Second, i was looking for a really simple console plotting app. GNUplot is too much, i just need something that could plot most formulas to a file (PNG, for instance). Won't need that for academic papers, just for my lecture notes (that's why it should be quick and easy to use, and possible to be invoked directly from Vim)

Last edited by ilembitov (2009-10-15 12:30:40)

Trent

Member

From: Baltimore, MD (US)

Registered: 2009-04-16

Posts: 990

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

It's possible to store formulae in CSV format, just like any other data.  The issue is finding a reader that will evaluate the formulae instead of interpreting them as literal text.  I don't know whether any mainstream apps do this or not (never tried).

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

Is there a reason it has to be lightweight compared to OpenOffice? Honestly, it's easy to use and I'm not sure that I know of really any other solution.

mikesd

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-02-01

Posts: 788

Website

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

GNUplot is too much, i just need something that could plot most formulas to a file (PNG, for instance). Won't need that for academic papers, just for my lecture notes (that's why it should be quick and easy to use, and possible to be invoked directly from Vim)

It is hard to go past GNUplot. Well worth the time to learn basic plotting in it as it is quite simple.

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wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

How about R? I found plotting in R to be easy, although I used only interactive sessions so far.

pizmooz

Member

Registered: 2009-01-11

Posts: 21

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

IMHO, ipython/matplotlib is a pretty sweet plotting package

ilembitov

Member

Registered: 2008-10-07

Posts: 124

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

i'm talking about something like just typing
plot -xy -e "y(x)=x^2 + sin (x)" > graph.png
And that's it. is there no such tool? i need support just for basic formulas and equations, really

pseudonomous

Member

Registered: 2008-04-23

Posts: 349

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

It kind of sounds like you want aTI-83 graphing calculator.

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Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,563

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

Or an emulator of one.

iphitus

Forum Fellow

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2004-10-09

Posts: 4,927

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

i'm talking about something like just typing
plot -xy -e "y(x)=x^2 + sin (x)" > graph.png
And that's it. is there no such tool? i need support just for basic formulas and equations, really

There's a few python based options that I know of
* Sage Mathematics does it. http://www.sagenb.org/doc/live/tutorial … tting.html However it's not at all lightweight, the install is something like 1.5gb, though you can use it online by signing up at http://sagenb.org
* Sympy: http://docs.sympy.org/modules/plotting.html
* scipy/matplotlib (what I prefer)

Last edited by iphitus (2009-10-16 01:00:24)

makimaki

Member

From: Ireland

Registered: 2009-04-02

Posts: 109

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

i'm talking about something like just typing
plot -xy -e "y(x)=x^2 + sin (x)" > graph.png
And that's it. is there no such tool? i need support just for basic formulas and equations, really

Gnuplot:

y(x)=x*x + sin(x)
plot y(x)
set term png
set output graph.png
replot
set term wxt

That's it, simple.

(Also, wxt sets it back to displaying plots in a window)

There are lots of useful commands that can make your plots look really nice, and you should learn how to use eps, especially 'set term eps color enhanced' and it's variations; much nicer looking than png.

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Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,563

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

Oh, forgot.  It's not local, but I use www.wolframalpha.com for a lot of basic plotting and such.

In the example you gave, the output is: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=y% … in+%28x%29

Last edited by Ranguvar (2009-10-16 01:56:45)

rcoyner

Member

From: Washington D.C.

Registered: 2008-05-16

Posts: 30

Website

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

How about R? I found plotting in R to be easy, although I used only interactive sessions so far.

I also recommend R. It is versatile and produces graphs the way you want it to look. The learning curve is a little steep at first but it is definitely worth learning even if you don't deal with data analysis frequently. There is a pretty good chance that in the future you will be doing statistical analysis of some artibitrary data whether for work or for hobby. You will be patting yourself on the back later if you take the time to learn R now.

Stalafin

Member

From: Berlin, Germany

Registered: 2007-10-26

Posts: 617

Re: Lightweight plotting and spreadsheet software

matplotlib
gnuplot
r

Those things I'd consider. It's not actually hard to create a graph like the one you want with gnuplot.