Trying to choose a plotting package

During the process of writing my review, I meet the problem of plotting. For now I can copy figures from other people’s work but I think there will be times when I need to draw my own plot.

There are a number of plotting software packages out there. Some are used by a lot while some have a relatively small user base. For one who want to get some help from the community, it is important to choose one that has a friendly syntax/interface and a larger user base. For now I am looking at Asymptote and gnuplot. They are both powerful packages with extensive features, both support LaTeX well. Both have good documentation, which make the choice even harder to make.

In terms of language they use, Asymptote seems to be more formal, using structures more like those of C++ and Java. gnuplot seems to be more similar to (Bourne Again) shell scripts. If I have C++ programming experience it should be easier to pick Asymptote, but in fact I am more familiar with shell scripts and a little bit Fortran.

Taking a closer look, I think gnuplot is better at plotting data and non-parameter functions, as it is easy to do so in a sequential way, and it can read inputs from standard output (Asymptote seems cannot). But for more complicated graphic, the language used by Asymptote really boost it to a higher level.

The best way seems to be to learn both packages, as they have different advantages. But learning both at the same time seems to be very challenging. Without much drawing at hand, perhaps I’ll start with gnuplot.