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Comparison with Existing Programs

There are already programs for drawing figures that can be included in LATEX documents; why write another one? The short answer is that the author was unable to find a utility that is Free (in the sense of Free Software), mathematically accurate, easy to use, and sufficiently capable. It is difficult to explain the rationale in detail without critiquing existing software by name. Nothing in this section is meant to disparage the good work of others, but only to explain why the author felt the need to write ePiX.

xfig, while a fast and convenient way of drawing simple figures, is analogous to a WYSIWYG word processor, in the same way ePiX is analogous to LATEX . While the immediate results are often pleasing, it is difficult to achieve mathematical accuracy, and even more difficult to edit an existing figure. Similar remarks are true for other programs, such as TeXpict and sketch, whose user interfaces are graphical menus.

Large, commercial packages such as Maple and Mathematica produce mathematically accurate output, but are not Free (nor very affordable for an individual), and are therefore (in the author's view) contrary to the academic ethic. There are many smaller reasons to be unhappy with such programs. They are also, arguably, overkill for ePiX's intended purposes.

gnuplot might seem a natural choice, but despite its name, gnuplot is not Free Software. In addition, the author found the documentation dense, the learning curve steep (likely an indictment of the author's patience rather than of gnuplot), and the output less than perfect. Packages such as picTeX and pstricks can do many useful things, but do not plot functions.

Finally, the author found a number of ``toy'' programs scattered on the web, but none were powerful, flexible, or easy to compile (much less use), and none produced publication-quality output.


next up previous
Next: System Requirements Up: Introduction Previous: Introduction
hwang
2002-06-06