Ploticus is a

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the difference betw ...

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

(

GPL The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first c ...

)

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

for producing plots and charts from data. It runs under

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and

Win32 The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is the foundational application programming interface (API) that allows a computer program to access the features of the Microsoft Windows operating system in which the program is running. Programs can acces ...

systems.Ploticus Downloads
Accessed 9 September 2011. Community support is customarily done through Yahoo News Groups.Yahoo News Groups Community
Accessed 9 September 2011.

History

The first version was released August 25, 1999.
Accessed 8 February 2008. Ploticus is a mature product with activity, where the last major release (2.42) occurred in May 2013.
Accessed 9 September 2011. Bruce Byfield in

Linux.com Linux.com is a website that is owned by the Linux Foundation, where the goal of the site is to provide information about open source technology, careers, best practices, and industry trends. It also acts as a hub for the Linux community. Linux ...

described Ploticus as, "...a throwback to the days when Unix programs did one thing, and did it well, using a minimum of

system resources A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and is exp ...

."Linux.COM Ploticus Review
Accessed 9 September 2011. On December 17, 2016 or 2017, the author announced halting development and support of ploticus. A previous bug fix was released as a patch without a new version being released. Finally on March 16, 2023, the author announced their focus shifted to DataDraw, a new project implemented in

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (prog ...

exposing an

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

to generate

SVG Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector graphics format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium sin ...

graphs.

Graph types and features

At the center of Ploticus lies a

scripting language In computing, a script is a relatively short and simple set of instructions that typically automation, automate an otherwise manual process. The act of writing a script is called scripting. A scripting language or script language is a programming ...

.Ploticus Scripting Home
Accessed 9 September 2011. Through the scripting language, "2-D graphs and... basic statistical functions" are supported. Sophisticated graphs can be developed quickly using scripts previously developed, called "prefabs". Simple graphs can be produced using few parameters in addition to the data.
Accessed 9 September 2011. Users can create and modify "prefabs". Ploticus supports the following types of plot: line plots, filled line plots, category line plots, ranges sweeps, pie graphs, vertical bar graphs, horizontal bar charts, timelines, floating bar segments, bar proportions, scatter plots, heat maps (density grids), single variable distribution, error bars, curve fitting, vector plots,

Venn diagram A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between set (mathematics), sets, popularized by John Venn (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary set theory, and to illustrate simple ...

s, Venn magnitude charts, tree diagrams. Features include: scaling and axes, legends, annotations, clickmap, and mouse-over support.Ploticus Gallery
Accessed 9 September 2011.

Applications

Ploticus has been used for: * Animal Phenome Graphing Mouse Phenome Database
Accessed 9 September 2011. * Climate Trending
Accessed 9 September 2011. * Health Data Analysis
Accessed 24 October 2011.

As a plug-in

Ploticus can be used as a plug-in with various other software such as: *

Semantic MediaWiki Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) is an extension to MediaWiki that allows for annotating semantic data within wiki pages, thus turning a wiki that incorporates the extension into a semantic wiki. Data that has been encoded can be used in semantic searc ...

Semantic MediaWiki
Accessed 9 September 2011. *

Asterisk PBX Asterisk is a software implementation of a private branch exchange (PBX). In conjunction with suitable telephony hardware interfaces and network applications, Asterisk is used to establish and control telephone calls between telecommunication en ...

GUI ClientastGUIclient
Accessed 4 October 2011.

References

External links