[ePiX-devel] Miscellaneous requests for input

[Andrew D. Hwang]

The Version 1.1.x source tree is nearing the stage where additional output 
formats (metapost, pict2e, pgf, svg...?) can be coded. I'd be interested 
in the value and interest level of providing these (and/or other) output 
formats, and would especially welcome coding assistance.
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When compiling memory-intensive figures (such as shaded surfaces), elaps 
can take several seconds, then fail because latex runs out of memory. As a 
fix for this issue, I propose having elaps save the resulting eepic file 
rather than using a temporary. The user can then call "elaps -H" on the 
eepic file instead of having to recompile from the xp file. Please let me 
know if this would be problematic for any reason.
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Because path clipping is now effected edge by edge, functions having poles 
can get plotted badly if an edge joins points with large coordinates of 
opposite sign. (The file samples/cropplot.xp manually avoids the poles for 
now, but this isn't a permanent solution). I have some ideas for detecting 
numerical singularities in plots, but welcome suggestions.
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In 1.1.x, data plotting does not crop by default; it's impossible to get 
the crop state in the present implementation, and I'm hesitant to add the 
capability just to have scatter plots get cropped. However, it might make 
sense to *turn on cropping by default*; that way, users must explicitly 
request a figure to occupy more page space than allocated. Does this seem 
like reasonable (or even preferable) behavior?
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Andrew D. Hwang                 address@hidden
Department of Math and CS       http://mathcs.holycross.edu/~ahwang
College of the Holy Cross       (508) 793-2458 (Office: 320 Swords)
Worcester, MA, 01610-2395       (508) 793-3530 (fax)