Newbie: Plotting questions

[Geoff Wright]

Hi,
 
I have just started with Octave and was wondering if someone could give me a 
hand getting going.

1. I like to write my commands in a script file and then run it.  For 
example, I create a file named "2dplot.O" and then type "octave 2dplot.O" in  
a shell.  Is this fairly standard or is there a more efficient way of doing 
it?  Also, what file extension do people use for these input files?

2. I like to look at 2d and 3d plots of functions that I am working with.  I 
have this simple file to view a 2d plot.

function y = f(x)
        y = x.^2;
endfunction

x = (1:10)
y = f(x)

plot(x,y)
gset term postscript
gset output "2dplot.ps"
replot

Does anyone have a few simple examples of better ways to do this? It's 
annoying that x=(1:10) has intervals of 1.  I can think of a few ways that 
would allow me to decrease that interval but why re-invent the wheel if you 
don't have to.

3.  Ideally, I would like to be able to just say something like z = f(x,y) 
where f(x,y) = x^2 * y^3 and then view a plot of that function over certain 
domains.  Does anyone have a few examples of how I might do this?

4. I would also like to be able to have the GNUplot pause on the screen and 
only write to file after I have viewed it.  


Thanks a lot for the help.  Sorry about the newbie questions.
Take care,
geoff



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