What are all good GUI & plotting package options for Maxima?

--- seberino@spawar.navy.mil wrote:
> What are all the good GUI and plotting options
> that try to support Maxima??
> 
> Gnuplot is not GPL compatible.  This limits our freedom
> with this one. I'd like to hear what are other quality GPL
> compatible plotting packages out there.

GPL compatible wise, probably the best I am aware of for 3D currently
are Scigraphica and Kmatplot, neither cross platform.  I have not
extensively used either though.  3D plotting is a relatively rare
ability in a program.

I agree that Grace is currently our best 2D gpl package, and in some
ways I like it better than gnuplot for 2D output.  Unfortunately it is
not cross platform.

Eventually we will probably take the best code and/or ideas and work
them into a Maxima oriented plotting solution, but that is a long ways
down the road - post 6.0.  Look in the archives for some of the
potential tools for this task.  

> I know of xmaxima and Symaxx interfaces.  Are these
> the best??? The only ones? What are they lacking
> that makes people often mention the need for a better
> interface for Maxima?

This is not a simple subject, but I'll try to give a reasonable
outline.  Remember this is just one opinion.

The biggest limitations of Symaxx are 1) it is no longer actively
maintained as far as I know 2) it is written in a rather odd Perl-Tk
language binding and 3) it doesn't do true 2D input.  It also uses a
flowchart model of interaction, which is useful for some things but not
very handy if you want a notebook style interface.  That said, it is
probably the most capable interface we've got.  It has some features,
like the flowchart mode, I would like to preserve as options in a new
interface.

Xmaxima is essentially a very fancy Tcl/Tk wrapper around the command
line interface.  It does match parenthesis, provides menus and embeds
plots but as a notebook style interface it is rather lacking.  It also
is rather kludgy about how it handles embedding the plots.  It has been
very much improved of late and will still be the standard interface for
6.0, but beyond that there is much much more that can be done.  If you
have ever used Mathematica you have some idea of what a properly
implimented 2D input style is like.

As for what could be done in a new interface, there are probably a
thousand good ideas that can and should be used.  The default interface
design will no doubt be a topic of intense debate :-).  But again, this
is all post 6.0.  There is also some discussion of this subject in the
archives.

CY

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