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I would highly recommend learning R (http://www.r-project.org/ http://www.r-project.org/). It is very easy to directly query databases and R has many visualisat

by revorad 17y ago

I would highly recommend learning R (http://www.r-project.org/ http://www.r-project.org/). It is very easy to directly query databases and R has many visualisation packages, including the awesome ggplot2 (http://had.co.nz/ggplot2/ http://had.co.nz/ggplot2/) based on the grammar of graphics. I'm writing an R graphs cookbook and my startup's visualisation product is also built on R (see profile and feel free to email me if you need any help). Also, look at Ben Fry's Processing books (http://benfry.com/ http://benfry.com/). Here's an introductory tutorial - http://blog.blprnt.com/blog/blprnt/your-random-numbers-getting-started-with-processing-and-data-visualization http://blog.blprnt.com/blog/blprnt/your-random-numbers-getti...). If you're familiar with Python, check out Matplotlib (https://www.packtpub.com/matplotlib-python-development/book https://www.packtpub.com/matplotlib-python-development/book).

devonrt 17y ago
I like Processing, and you can do pretty much anything you want with it but I will point out that it was not necessarily built with charts, graphs, and plots in mind; it's relatively "low-level." Any type of graph or visualization you want will have to built pretty much from scratch with the primitives available. This might not put you off, but it's something to keep in mind.
- revorad 17y ago
  Yeah in that sense R is a better choice, but to make good looking graphs in R takes a bit of learning.
  - johnwatson11218 17y ago
    I just got the book "R in Action" from the Manning MEAP program. Chapter 3 is all about the graphing capabilities built into R. I had a hard time trying to learn that stuff from the online docs but I find the book very easy to follow.
    - revorad 17y ago
      Oh cool, I haven't read that book, will look it up. The UseR series books are very good too, although a bit expensive. If you have access to a good University library, I recommend looking them up.
lukev 17y ago
Any experience with Incanter? Supposedly it's a port of R to Clojure, and since I love Clojure and everything else is already running on the JVM I'd lean towards using it as opposed to another standalone program if it's any good.
- phren0logy 17y ago
  I have used it, but as a warning I'm not an expert user of R, Clojure, or Incanter. Incanter is very pleasant to use, because I personally much prefer coding in Clojure to R. The R language is powerful, but I don't find it obvious at all. You can also use Processing from Clojure if you need to roll your own charts, in addition to the very capable charting library that's already there to handle most routine visualization. That said, Incanter is immature compared to R. If Incanter does what you need, it might be a great fit, but R has a huge community and list of libraries right now. There's an R to Clojure bridge, but if you don't yet know R I'm not sure it's very helpful. Finally, Incanter is developing at a break-neck pace. Even if it doesn't do what you want today, it might tomorrow. Literally. I'd love to see the user base grow, because Clojure seems like a perfect fit for statistical computing.
- revorad 17y ago
  I haven't tried Incanter yet, but from what I've read about it, it sounds very interesting. Perhaps that is a good way to get started learning Clojure (like I'm learning Python via Matplotlib). Since Incanter is still in early stages of development, I think I'd still prefer R to do any serious work, because it's probably a lot more solid and has a lot more packages.
SanPedroGrouch 17y ago
I second Python+Matplotlib and toss in another notion: animation. With Matplotlib you can generate a plot, save it as a .png file, step to the next plot, save it, etc. all unattended. Then combine your plots into a movie file using one of many programs designed to do just that and presto! your own movie. I've done this on occasion and with success. When it fits, animation works wonders. And when it doesn't, look for "duck" in Tufte.

by revorad 17y ago

devonrt 17y ago

I like Processing, and you can do pretty much anything you want with it but I will point out that it was not necessarily built with charts, graphs, and plots in mind; it's relatively "low-level." Any type of graph or visualization you want will have to built pretty much from scratch with the primitives available. This might not put you off, but it's something to keep in mind.

revorad 17y ago
Yeah in that sense R is a better choice, but to make good looking graphs in R takes a bit of learning.
- johnwatson11218 17y ago
  I just got the book "R in Action" from the Manning MEAP program. Chapter 3 is all about the graphing capabilities built into R. I had a hard time trying to learn that stuff from the online docs but I find the book very easy to follow.
  - revorad 17y ago
    Oh cool, I haven't read that book, will look it up. The UseR series books are very good too, although a bit expensive. If you have access to a good University library, I recommend looking them up.

lukev 17y ago

Any experience with Incanter? Supposedly it's a port of R to Clojure, and since I love Clojure and everything else is already running on the JVM I'd lean towards using it as opposed to another standalone program if it's any good.

phren0logy 17y ago
I have used it, but as a warning I'm not an expert user of R, Clojure, or Incanter. Incanter is very pleasant to use, because I personally much prefer coding in Clojure to R. The R language is powerful, but I don't find it obvious at all. You can also use Processing from Clojure if you need to roll your own charts, in addition to the very capable charting library that's already there to handle most routine visualization. That said, Incanter is immature compared to R. If Incanter does what you need, it might be a great fit, but R has a huge community and list of libraries right now. There's an R to Clojure bridge, but if you don't yet know R I'm not sure it's very helpful. Finally, Incanter is developing at a break-neck pace. Even if it doesn't do what you want today, it might tomorrow. Literally. I'd love to see the user base grow, because Clojure seems like a perfect fit for statistical computing.
revorad 17y ago
I haven't tried Incanter yet, but from what I've read about it, it sounds very interesting. Perhaps that is a good way to get started learning Clojure (like I'm learning Python via Matplotlib). Since Incanter is still in early stages of development, I think I'd still prefer R to do any serious work, because it's probably a lot more solid and has a lot more packages.

SanPedroGrouch 17y ago

I second Python+Matplotlib and toss in another notion: animation. With Matplotlib you can generate a plot, save it as a .png file, step to the next plot, save it, etc. all unattended. Then combine your plots into a movie file using one of many programs designed to do just that and presto! your own movie. I've done this on occasion and with success. When it fits, animation works wonders. And when it doesn't, look for "duck" in Tufte.