VRML & Java plotting

[Wayne R Fiori]

What I'm about to suggest is a serious amount of work, but think of it as a
proposal for the future.  The idea of using VRML to describe plots from
octave, particularly for 3D plots, is good.  The talk of a Java-based
plotting solution is interesting as well.  Wouldn't it be interesting to
(lot of work part) have the front-end of octave be a Java App (or Applet).
There isn't a real need for the front-end to have fantastic graphics.  On
the contrary, the command-line interface really is the most efficient. The
java virtual machine will only get faster in the future.  Both because of
faster cpu's and networks, but also because Sun & JavaSoft recognize that
speed sells the language. This would push octave into the intranet arena.
Multiple builds would no really be necessary anymore.  Taking advantage of
HTML could provide a better interface for the documentation and online
help. VRML is settling down into a stable specification with v2.0 and soon
v3.0.  VRML would provide octave with accessible and extendible plotting
capabilities.  Should it necessary to have clean PostScript(tm) plots, that
could be addressed in the Java level.

I'd willing sacrifice some raw number crunching speed for a more accessible
set of source code and 3D plotting.

Just a thought.
--

--
========================================================================
| Wayne R Fiori                    |  e-mail:  address@hidden |
| Biochemistry Dept.               |   Phone:  (415)723-5872 [Lab]     |
| Beckman Center, Stanford         |           (408)787-4586 [page me] |
| Stanford, CA 94305-5307 _________|_________  (415)723-6783 [fax]     |
| My less anemic web page is - http://iguana.stanford.edu/wayne/       |
==Been there, Done that, Got the t-shirt================================