[IPython-user] gnuplot variables

[Fernando Perez]

Arnd Baecker wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> the followig seems to boil down to the question: how to check if a pipe
> opened with popen3 contains data to be read.
> 
> Still I thought I start to post this question here as it is in the context
> of Fernando's improvements to gnuplot...

[snip...]

Interesting ideas, but keep in mind that pipe support is very os dependent. 
So adding any of these to Gnuplot.py will be no small task, as a fair amount 
of os-specific checks will have to be enabled.  In particular, I think that 
under WinXX systems, pipe support is limited (I could be wrong here).

While I use gnuplot for all my work (hence all the enhancements I put into 
ipython for it), in a sense I am using as a stop-gap solution.  I have high 
hopes that once the chaco framework matures, it will provide a better 
'pythonic' solution to the plotting problem.  I know of all the problems 
involved with getting WxWindows to work reliably, and that's why I currently 
stay away from it.  But hopefully these will be ironed out in time.

This is not to say that I don't see gnuplot enhancements as a worthwhile goal, 
but simply to point out that I would not spend too much effort on it.  On the 
other hand, anyone else is more than welcome to put their effort in :)

Best,

Fernando.