lyx-devel Digest, Vol 235, Issue 7

matan guedj matanel1326 at gmail.com
Fri May 3 15:41:56 UTC 2024


> On Fri, May 03, 2024 at 01:12:38PM GMT, Pavel Sanda wrote:
> > On Fri, May 03, 2024 at 12:28:04PM +0300, matan guedj wrote:
> > > that's about it) but I wanted to add a new feature to LyX - a plotting
> tool.
> > > What I'm thinking of is on the math bar or some other bar, add a plot
> icon
> > > that will open a window with all the parameters for the mostly used
> plots
> > > (2D/3D, Cartesian/polar/spherical..., scatter/bars/pie..., parametric
> > > curves or surfaces, implicit functions, vector fields, and more).
> > > I'm still learning pgfplots but it follows a fairly simple and
> well-defined
> > > formula for most of the plots so it most likely can be automated.
> > > And now it opens some questions:
> >
> > Dear Matan,
> >
> > thanks for reaching out before you actually started coding.
>
> +1
>
> > > and when I believe it's done and
> > > an acceptable feature, present it to the developers and implement it
> for
> > > the next version? (2.5.x probably whenever this will come up)
> >
> > Right, apart from the obvious question whether you can pull it off, it's
> > also important to ask whether, that's something lyx needs and wants.
>
> +1
>
> I agree with Pavel's questions. We should have a lot of discussion
> before you start working on it.
>
> Don't get me wrong, we would be extremely excited to have someone new
> working on the LyX code! We just want to make sure you don't spend a lot
> of time on something that does not get included in the end.
>
> Although it's completely up to you, typically beginning developers get
> started by working on a couple of not-to-difficult bugs before tackling
> a big project.
>
> Scott
>
>
thank you Scott for your response, I'll be glad to talk about it! I might
be wrong
about it but I do want to start with this project, I believe it's better to
work on
something I have some attachment/inclination towards and a clear vision of
the
the finished product, I also want to say that I don't have a plan at the
moment as
joining as a developer (I think I might have wrongly interpreted your words
here).

I don't have experience with bug tracking so i can't tell if it's something
I want to
commit to already.

Le 03/05/2024 à 11:28, matan guedj a écrit :
> > Hello,
> > I've had a few questions revolving around an idea that I had recently
> > trying to teach myself pgfplots.
> > I'm fairly new to LyX and LaTeX in general (started using both in
> > January 2024) and I'm also no programmer (I've had an introductory
> > course in C but that's about it) but I wanted to add a new feature to
> > LyX - a plotting tool.
> > What I'm thinking of is on the math bar or some other bar, add a plot
> > icon that will open a window with all the parameters for the mostly used
> > plots (2D/3D, Cartesian/polar/spherical..., scatter/bars/pie...,
> > parametric curves or surfaces, implicit functions, vector fields, and
> more).
> > I'm still learning pgfplots but it follows a fairly simple and
> > well-defined formula for most of the plots so it most likely can be
> > automated.
>
> Dear Matan,
>
> What you describe is a pgfplot editor. Is there a reason why it would be
> really better than making one that can be used outside LyX?
>

well first of all I'm of the belief that programs should have internal ways
of
achieving things that are accessed through a tough learning curve; for
example
learning how to plot basic functions with tikz code isn't so hard, but it's
not as
easy as choosing some options from a dropdown menu with a standard window
(like a settings window) it's much more elegant and organized having
everything
in one program instead of a program for this, a program for that, etc...

second of all, before your reply I didn't think about checking such programs
but my point still stands, if it can be done internally (with no need for
other apps
whether web apps or programs you can use offline) then there should be a
feature addressing that, I might be biased but I think the vast majority of
LyX
users would enjoy such a feature, which would save them the hassle of
learning
the syntax of pgfplots.


>
> I would advise looking for such an existing editor, write one if it does
> not exist, and then do the basic plumbing to be able to invoke it from
> LyX and preview the result (the easiest part).
>

such editors do seem to exist on the web but are limited in scope to what I
have
in mind, some like matcha.io look amazing (that's what led me down this
rabbit hole)
but don't allow the conversion to tikz code and form my quick (and possibly
wrong)
research it seems like they generate those with some locked software (a
solution one
has to buy to use it's features).

and I'll add that I have no idea how to do the "basic plumbing to be able
to invoke it
from LyX and preview the result" but I'll probably learn that eventually.


>
> JMarc
>
>  hopefully, I've answered your immediate questions.

Matan
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