Inconsistency in ListPlot vs. other plotting functions (solution)
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg102690] Inconsistency in ListPlot vs. other plotting functions (solution)
- From: dr DanW <dmaxwarren at gmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:01:39 -0400 (EDT)
I have been trying to write a fully functional legend function for the
Plot family of functions. I have been baffled by some inconsistencies
between the behavior of ListPlot and the other plotting functions,
about which I have posted previously on this forum. To wit:
ListLogPlot[ Tooltip [ Range[4], "Data" ] ] ]
works as expected, but
ListPlot[ Tooltip [ Range[4], "Data" ] ] ]
looses the tooltip. Also,
ListLogPlot[ { Range[4], Range[4]/2 } , Joined->True, PlotStyle->
{Thick, Dashed} ]
gives you a solid thick line and a thin dashed line, whereas
ListPlot[ { Range[4], Range[4]/2 } , Joined->True, PlotStyle->{Thick,
Dashed} ]
gives you a solid thick line and a thick dashed line.
These inconsistencies have challenged my faith in Mathematica.
However, through much experimentation I have discovered that
ListLinePlot is a rewritten version of ListPlot (similar to
ListLogPlot being a rewritten version of LogListPlot.) As far as I
can tell, ListLinePlot has behavior that is consistent with the other
plotting functions. The only nagging difference is that, by default,
Joined->True, but we know how to deal with that. I suspect that
ListPlot should have been put on a deprecated function list but was
not.
So, my suggestion is to get into the habit of using ListLinePlot
instead of ListPlot.
Daniel