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Let's put it this way: I wrote my diploma thesis in LyX, but went back to emacs+latex for my PhD. I did not regret it. Matplotlib is close, but I get results wi

Let's put it this way: I wrote my diploma thesis in LyX, but went back to emacs+latex for my PhD. I did not regret it. Matplotlib is close, but I get results with gnuplot quicker. My students all started out using root/matlab/whatever for plots. Except for the matlab guy, sooner or later, they all switched to gnuplot. Not forced by me.

Y_Y 10y ago
So you shopped around and stuck with the thing you like. That's great and nobody could argue with it. In my own department grad students and even wizened old professors are moving away from gnuplot and matlab to matplotlib, but I bet that having "experts" around is a more important factor than anything else.
- apathy 10y ago
  Why do you quote the word experts? It doesn't appear that the objective merits of the tools under discussion yield a single best answer. For example, if you look through various implementations of assorted somewhat-esoteric algorithms & formulae, I have found that the FORTRAN implementations are usually cleanest. Not because the language is cleaner or anything like that, but because the most experienced people in the field didn't see the point of bowing to language fashion. If fashion were the deciding point I suppose we'd all be compelled to use JavaScript, so, yeah. I'd rather not reimplement something that already works right, least of all when it's a fiddle problem and I've got deadlines to hit.
  - Y_Y 10y ago
    I quoted it because, for example, within a small group, I would be the go-to person for "I need software that does X" or "I hate Y, what can I use instead?". I'm by no means an expert in, say, matplotlib, but I have local influence by means of my relative, perceived expertise. You make a great point. The only thing that I'd add is that a lot of the Fortran code that I'd rely on (large venerable linear algebra and ODE packages) were written a long time ago, when it would have been somewhat less unfashionable.

Y_Y 10y ago

So you shopped around and stuck with the thing you like. That's great and nobody could argue with it. In my own department grad students and even wizened old professors are moving away from gnuplot and matlab to matplotlib, but I bet that having "experts" around is a more important factor than anything else.

apathy 10y ago
Why do you quote the word experts? It doesn't appear that the objective merits of the tools under discussion yield a single best answer. For example, if you look through various implementations of assorted somewhat-esoteric algorithms & formulae, I have found that the FORTRAN implementations are usually cleanest. Not because the language is cleaner or anything like that, but because the most experienced people in the field didn't see the point of bowing to language fashion. If fashion were the deciding point I suppose we'd all be compelled to use JavaScript, so, yeah. I'd rather not reimplement something that already works right, least of all when it's a fiddle problem and I've got deadlines to hit.
- Y_Y 10y ago
  I quoted it because, for example, within a small group, I would be the go-to person for "I need software that does X" or "I hate Y, what can I use instead?". I'm by no means an expert in, say, matplotlib, but I have local influence by means of my relative, perceived expertise. You make a great point. The only thing that I'd add is that a lot of the Fortran code that I'd rely on (large venerable linear algebra and ODE packages) were written a long time ago, when it would have been somewhat less unfashionable.