[IPython-dev] Fwd: notebook plots via javascript
Zoltán Vörös
zvoros at gmail.com
Mon Jun 4 08:48:05 EDT 2012
Greetings Ludwig,
Thanks for the comments! Below are mine.
>
> You might find the mplh5canvas backend
> (http://code.google.com/p/mplh5canvas/) interesting. It is a JS
> backend for matplotlib
I have seen this, in fact, about a month ago, it was I who suggested
this to Fernando, but he convinced me that in the notebook one might
want to have something different.
The first problem was the reliance on an external server. This could, of
course, be fixed, at the expense of putting some extra load on the
ipython kernel.
Second, for what I had in mind, a static javascript with basic
functionalities, like coordinate reporting, grid toggling, and zooming
should do. An example of this could be gnuplot's canvas terminal.
http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo_canvas_4.6/
I would bring two arguments in favour of a static file. First, if the
plot does not require a server to run, then it can also be used in a
static notebook, when you just save the notebook in html, and then open
it on a computer that doesn't even have ipython installed. I think this
is an advantage that should not be underestimated.
Second, I believe, the plot should not allow the user to significantly
change the plot, e.g., removing data points and so on is probably not a
good idea, because then the plot will be decoupled from the underlying
code that generated it. (NB. zooming is already questionable in this
regard.) One can go down that path, but that's a different paradigm,
found in Origin and the like. However, if all one wants can be
implemented in static code, why not implement it in static code? So, why
I certainly see the enormous potential of the html5 backend, I am not
convinced that that is the best option in the case at hand.
Well, these were my comments. Anyone else to chip in?
Best,
Zoltán
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