From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/45114 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Alan BRASLAU Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: tikz and metapost Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:40 +0100 Organization: CEA DSM-IRAMIS-SPEC Message-ID: <200810261624.40265.alan.braslau@cea.fr> References: <6b36c7890809230840j7e3cbe0ckc08032e65fa62306@mail.gmail.com> <200810261045.19152.alan.braslau@cea.fr> <6faad9f00810260346o5eb5893w378c2b72639b15b@mail.gmail.com> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1225034788 21425 80.91.229.12 (26 Oct 2008 15:26:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:26:28 +0000 (UTC) To: mailing list for ConTeXt users Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Sun Oct 26 16:27:29 2008 connect(): Connection refused Return-path: Envelope-to: gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl ([131.211.172.88] helo=ronja.ntg.nl) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Ku7WU-0003vF-9N for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:27:22 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7CBA81FBB5; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:26:14 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 06538-01; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:25:17 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.vet.uu.nl (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id BD6611FB71; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:25:17 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id C62A21FB71 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:25:16 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from ronja.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 06301-06-2 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:41 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from smtp4-g19.free.fr (smtp4-g19.free.fr [212.27.42.30]) by ronja.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5C0C21FB6B for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:41 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from smtp4-g19.free.fr (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp4-g19.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF58F3EA0E3 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:40 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from drec-hb-001817.localnet (cev75-1-81-57-248-225.fbx.proxad.net [81.57.248.225]) by smtp4-g19.free.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id D261B3EA0F6 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:24:40 +0100 (CET) User-Agent: KMail/1.10.1 (Linux/2.6.26; KDE/4.1.2; i686; ; ) In-Reply-To: <6faad9f00810260346o5eb5893w378c2b72639b15b@mail.gmail.com> Content-Disposition: inline X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:45114 Archived-At: Following some exchange off-list (trying to figure out how tikz under context got broken), the subject of understanding pgf/tikz with respect to metapost came up. I am posting a follow-up here as it may be of interest to others on the mailing list, those who know metapost very well as well as those, like myself, who are still learning how to use different graphics tools. On Sunday 26 October 2008 11:46:22 Mojca Miklavec wrote: > > I am just starting to learn about metapost, and I can't judge yet > > what pgf/tikz has as advantages and disadvantages. > > Advantages of TikZ: > 1.) many many many many "libraries" that are ready-to-use. Just take a > glimpse through the manual and it will be evident to you in the first > glimpse. If you want to draw a graph, you can do it with a few > commands. (one command draws you axis, one for function, ...) > You can achieve the same with metapost, but you need to do everything > from scratch. However, it's really easy to write your own libraries. > 2.) some special effects like smooth shading works in metapost only > conditionally (does not work with XeTeX at the moment), and you have a > wider range with TikZ > > Advantages of metapost: > 1.) rich mathematical machinery (you can write a set of equations and > metapost will calculate your coordinates) > 2.) easy to write your own macros I thought that a major interest of pgf/tikz was the production of portable graphics (using many different motors). > I use metapost when I need to program something, and TikZ when I need > to do something fancy very quickly. Another option is export to TikZ > in Geogebra. > > As an experiment, I did try comparing making a graph using > > pgfplot and metagraph, and I did *not* like the result of the second. > > metagraph is old as earth. graph.mp,v 1.2 2004/09/19 Current estimates place the age of the earth at around 4.6 billion years... > If I draw graphs is meapost, I do that > manually. Or I use gnuplot module to draw graphs for me, but graph > drawing is much easier & more flexible with TikZ if you have > datapoints ready. I myself find gnuplot to be fatally flawed and have never liked using it. (I still sometimes produce graphics using an old program written in K&R C that generates HPGL for pen plotters, with a filter that then creates postscript. Now THAT is almost stone age! But this program can also handle an arbitrary number of points VERY efficiently, only limited by the size of your storage device.) > If you need some complex curve, TikZ is improving in > that area, but in metapost it's out-of-the-box to draw it. Why did Till Tantau write pgf/tikz? Clearly he knew metapost, so another route could have been to develop a standard library of metapost macros. I'm asking these questions here as there seems to be a preference (or prejudice) towards metapost amongst the context community. Indeed, it appears pretty powerful. But as Mojca wrote about glimpsing at the pgf/tikz manual, it too is very rich and I have yet to learn about all of the new features that were introduced in pgf-2.0. Thus, I am trying to figure out where to invest my learning efforts. Do any other metapost and/or pgf-tikz experts have something to contribute to this query? -- Alan Braslau ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________