thank you to everyone who contributed.
>We are seeking a dual platform (Mac and PC) graphing and analysis
>package. This should have the ability to do
> - curve fitting (including user-defined functions)
> - 2-d and 3-d plots
> - plots suitable for insertion into both hardcopy and electronic
> documents (not everthing does the latter well!)
the concensus seems to be:
1. Igor Pro
Mac and PC
http://www.wavemetrics.com
http://macweek.zdnet.com/mw_1017/news_igor.html
2. Origin
PC only
http://www.microcal.com
3. symbolic algebra, spreadsheet programs, etc -- eg
Mathematica http://www.wolfram.com
MatLAB http://www.mathworks.com
MicroSoft Excel
A full summary follows in 5 sections:
dual platform -- the subject of my original question
PC only )
MAC only ) -- not what I was seeking but useful information
others )
list of contributors :-)
A selection of contributors' comments is included and is indicated
by a ">" in the margin. My comments have no ">".
Kieran
=========================================================
DUAL PLATFORM
1. Igor Pro
>Igor was initially written for Mac but now runs on PC as well. It has
>superb curve fitting with user-definable functions. You can control every
>detail of publication plots, including special characters, stacked plots
>etc. Igor was designed with ordinary 2-D plots in mind but it can now do
>3-D plots as well. From Igor you can make PICT, EPS, and PS files. From
>these I have been able to make PDF, JPEG, etc files with the relevant
>external program
>Furthermore, what I appreciate very much is the possibility to add extended
>operations (in C language) to perform data acquisition and/or calculations.
>The software "Igor" (Wavemetrics, Oregon) is great, but it doesn't
>do 3-D plots (it does image and contour plots, though).
http://www.wavemetrics.com
http://macweek.zdnet.com/mw_1017/news_igor.html
2. KaleidaGraph IMHO
some mixed feedback (good and bad) about this.
>For all plots and curve fits two-dimensional,
>nothing beats KaleidaGraph IMHO. It is an incredibly
>fast, robust program available for Macs and PCs.
>Moreover it is easy to use - I have shown freshman
>students how to make fairly complex plots in minutes.
>It is trivial to add error bars (x and/or y axis)
>to some or all of the points of a data set.
>You can easily define your own curves for plotting to
>compare with your data, use their pre-set fitting
>routines (which are quite robust) or define your own
>function for fitting.
>The graphics it produces are camera-ready when printed
>on a laser printer. In short:
>I have been using KG for many years and highly recommend it.
>It's available from Synergy Software, and is CHEAP with
>an academic discount. (www.synergy.com; (610) 779-0522 is the
>number (unless it's changed since last time I called).
>KaleidaGraph will run just fine on a Mac Classic (I do this sometimes
>in a pinch) and is screamingly fast on even a minimal PowerMac.
>Kaleidagraph runs on both platforms but it's a pretty feeble program.
>Although we use it here in the undergrad general chem. lab course, it's not
>really versatile enough for serious research use.
http://www.synergy.com
3. Mathematica
>Mathematica does all of these things well (and more). You can find out
>more about Mathematica at
> http://www.wolfram.com
>Some examples of chemistry applications of Mathematica can be found at
> http://www.wolfram.com/engineering/users.html
>and some research papers in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering that have
>used Mathematica are listed at
> http://www.wolfram.com/papers/chem.html
> ... in regards to complex surface plots containing
>more than one surface that overlap - Mathematica will render them
>together.
>In addition, I find it to be an excellent teaching tool.
> Since you specifically asked about print quality graphics
> let me also toss into the mix the suggestion that you
> explore an add on for Mathematica made by Conix
> called "Conix 3D Explorer"--it's an OpenGL based
> rendering engine. When used with Mathematica you can
> create some truly spectacular, print quality, images
> --makes eye catching 3D plots.
4. MatLAB by Mathworks
>MATLAB works on PCs, Macs and Unix platforms and does all that you ask.
>I'll put in a vote for Matlab. Although both of these
>packages now have similar functionality, Matlab started
>as a numerical analysis package and has retained leadership in
>this area (those who are more familiar with Mathematica,
>please feel free to argue). Mathematica began as a symbolic math
>package and has pretty good 2D and 3D graphics by comparison.
>I really like Matlab's scripting language however. It's open API
>allows us to integrate it tightly with other code.
>Recent introduction of more advanced data structures etc. is very
>appealing too. One can also convert Matlab scripts into C code
>for better performance. Why have all the overhead for symbolic
>math when you really want to do numerical operations like
>curve fitting? Just my personal preference.
http://www.mathworks.com
5. MicroSoft Excel
>It does 2D- and 3D-plots. It does curve fitting. It's multi-platform. You
>can cut and paste plots as graphics. Most importantly, many people use it,
>and there are a lot of third-party books and documentation on the software.
yes, all this is true. Excel does meet all the minimum requirements which
I specified ... our experience of it at Deakin U is that something *more*
powerful is required.
6. DeltaGraph
>and has some advantages like keeping both data and plots in the same file.
>DeltaGraph also does contour and surface plots, but at last look the
>smoothing capabilities were either non-existent or primitive.
http://www.spss.com/software/deltagraph/
we have some experience with DeltaGraph at Deakin U ... it is great
for everything except insertion into other documents which are then
used for printing ...
=========================================================
PC ONLY
1. Origin by Microcal Software Inc.
several contributors nominated Origin, and we also use it in our group,
at Deakin University, but unfortunately it does not have a Mac version.
> Thank you for your recent inquiry. At this time, we do not have a Mac
> version of Origin, nor do we have plans for one in the immediate future.
> Origin version 5.0 runs Windows 95 (and 98) as well as Windows NT.
http://www.microcal.com
2. AXUM on a PC
>I am myself using AXUM on a PC. It has all the features you require and
>many more.
>It has curve fitting possibilities with user-defined functions, its own
>programming
>language for advanced treatment, has script files very usefull for
>repetitive treatments
>of data of similar structure. It can export to postscript files which I
>use for electronic
>document.
http://www.mathsoft.com/axum/
3. SigmaPlot
> We really like SigmaPlot. It is certainly very good at producing
>plots for insertion into MS-Word documents. It has lots of curve-fitting
>options. We do not use 3-d plots much, so I cannot comment on its
>capabilities there. Also, I do not know what the Mac version is like.
I am informed that the Mac version is not as up-to-date as the PC
version and hence have listed it under "PC only" here.
http://www.spss.com/software/science/sigmaplot/
4. Tecplot (Amtex Engineering: PC and UNIX versions)
http://www.amtec.com
5. PV-wave from Visual Numerics
=========================================================
MAC ONLY
1. Spyglass Transform
>For contour and surface plots, the best program for the Mac in regards
>to ease of use and quality of results is Spyglass Transform (www.fortner.com).
>Its contouring routines are accelerated for PowerPC and have very good
>smoothing and interpolation options.
http://www.fortner.com
2. ProFit
a check of the website shows no mention of a PC version
http://www.quansoft.com/index.html
OTHERS
=========================================================
MAthcad http://www.mathsoft.com
Winmaple
Prism (Graphpad)
GENPLOT http://www.genplot.com (PC and UNIX only)
IDL (interactive data language), which has
> excellent graphics support. It's uses a LISP language interpreter
> and can be programmed similarly to FORTRAN, with some advantages
> (automatic matrix recognition without doing the do loops). IDL is
> available for unix and PC Windows (Mac I do not know) and is widely
> used. Theere are different curve fitting routines build in and
> fitting functions can be user defined.
xmgr for your 2D graphics.
> It is easy to use, and includes non-linear curve fitting.
> It is free software and runs on any UNIX implementation including
> Linux, and therefore will run on your PC and Mac machines.
SURFER, produced by Golden Software
> originally produced for geological applications,
> it is a great graphing (2D, 3D, overlays, and more) program
Cricket Graph
Horizon
freeware stuff ported from the unix world such as MacVogel
GLE
> which I like BUT it is not as easy
> to find it on the net as it was say 4 years ago. Also I run it under LINUX
> and had a "tame" systems adminstrator to help when I had problems (changes
> to source code). In addition it works like very old graphing software with
> the equivalent of "move to" type instructions and is not "user friendly"
> although it is easy to use.
> I would however recomend it to someone who likes a program which puts
> things wrer it is told to put them.
A comprehensive comparison (in horrible English (-:) of the
> packages GAUSS, Macsyma, Maple, Mathematica, Matlab, MuPAD, O-Matrix,
> Ox, and S-Plus can be found under
> http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~stst/ncrunch.html
=========================================================
CONTRIBUTORS:
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------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Kieran F Lim Biol. and Chemical Sciences
(Lim Pak Kwan) Deakin University
ph: + [61] (3) 5227-2146 Geelong VIC 3217
fax: + [61] (3) 5227-1040 AUSTRALIA
mailto:[log in to unmask] http://www.deakin.edu.au/~lim
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