"draw" package questions



On 4/29/07, Mario Rodriguez <biomates at telefonica.net> wrote:

> But somehow we should pack together the function and the domain.
> Perhaps in a list
>
> draw2d(terminal=png, color=blue, [x^2,x,-1,1])  ?

I'd rather see some specific object type here. A list is very general.

> What about defining shortcuts such as
>
> draw2d(te=png, co=blue, ex(x^2,x,-1,1))

I'm pretty much completely opposed to allowing abbreviations.
I'm not opposed to short, cryptic names for frequently used items,
but I am opposed to allowing more than one name for something.

Just to throw out another idea (I haven't thought this through) consider this.
How about a notation which describes the set of points to be plotted?

e.g.
plotme ({(x,y) s.t. y = f(x) and x in open_interval(-1, +1)});
(an explicit plot) or
plotme ({(x,y) s.t. g(x, y) = 0})
(an implicit plot).

This has the advantage that all kinds of plots are described by the
same notation. Maxima doesn't recognize "set-builder" notation at
present but I think it is feasible to invent some useful stuff.

Thanks a lot to Mario for continuing the development of the draw2d package.

FWIW
Robert