re:Is it possible to plot a point in time on the same graph in Mathematica
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg25929] re:Is it possible to plot a point in time on the same graph in Mathematica
- From: "Tielo Jongmans" <t.jongmans at consunet.nl>
- Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 03:04:26 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Several people have written questions on this subject. I imagine one possible solution would be to use MathLink or JLink to export plotdata to an external program to display the plot in a separate non-Mathematica window. Something like callExternalListPlot[plotVertices] or callExternalPlot3D[triangles]. Obviously you would lose the native capabilities of Mathematica to format and enhance these plots. I would be prepared to investigate the possibility of doing a very basic implementation of this idea with an external interface written in C++ using OpenGl. I would appreciate help in specifying, testing and documenting this, as well as in developing the Mathematica-side functions to support this (my productivity in mathematica-code is lousy, something like one line a day). Is anyone interested in pursuing this further? My condition would be that the result would have to be freeware. Kind regards, Tielo Jongmans t.jongmans at consunet.nl >In article <8tofbp$j2b at smc.vnet.net>, siegman at stanford.edu says... > In article <8t65c7$eif at smc.vnet.net>, H Shou <H.Shou at cs.cf.ac.uk> > wrote: > > > Dear Sir: > > > > ......... > > Is it possible to plot a point a time on the same graph in > > Mathematica so that I can watch the progress instead of > > keeping on waiting. > > > > Henry Shaw > > I will be *very* interested to see what answers you get on this, because > I think the answer is essentially NO -- and this is perhaps *THE* single > most serious weakness of Mathematica as a teaching and display tool. > > That is, you can't "write to the screen" to put a new plot into an > existing on-screen plot in Mathematica because Mathematica graphics are > fundamentally built around PostScript, and PostScript involves fully > creating a plot, and only then displaying it. > > ................ > .>The ability to plot 'on the fly' is probably the greatest gap in .>Mathematica's general effectiveness. In my case, understanding space .>curves which cycle back and forth throughout a region. When these are .>plotted point by point what is happening is often clear. When presented .>as a finished plot it's just a ball of yarn.