About “Libraries” and “Toolkits” Which we’ll look at for visualization It is, of course, possible to program visual representations using just a language and its primitives for visualization –E.g., just c/c++, java, visual basic or c/c++ and opengl, java and jogl, etc. to create, e.g., graphs, trees, tables However, many of the same visual representations are used “often”, e.g., charts scatterplots, but not often enough to be a language primitive Libraries, or toolkits, provide a means to access these “often” used elements, focused on a domain –e.g., D3 and vtk for visualization, Qt for interface design Such “libraries” and “toolkits” are effectively another software layer –Some closer to the native language than others –Loosely stated, those “closer” to the native language are more flexible, but may trade off ease of use
Visualization Programming: Libraries and Toolkits Class
visualization resources CSCI 6361 Visualization, Programming, and
Interactive Systems For visualization, humans interact with
computers primarily through displays In fact, lots of things going
on that are part of the whole context of visualization, humans, and
computing Human Interaction Style, characterization, design
Programming systems Other UTPA CS courses: CSCI 6360: Graphics CSCI
6363: Human Computer Interaction About Libraries and Toolkits Which
well look at for visualization It is, of course, possible to
program visual representations using just a language and its
primitives for visualization E.g., just c/c++, java, visual basic
or c/c++ and opengl, java and jogl, etc. to create, e.g., graphs,
trees, tables However, many of the same visual representations are
used often, e.g., charts scatterplots, but not often enough to be a
language primitive Libraries, or toolkits, provide a means to
access these often used elements, focused on a domain e.g., D3 and
vtk for visualization, Qt for interface design Such libraries and
toolkits are effectively another software layer Some closer to the
native language than others Loosely stated, those closer to the
native language are more flexible, but may trade off ease of use
Libraries and Toolkits for visualization D3 Java, javascript, etc.
based toolkit for many VTK Allows recompilation to extend, access
OpenGL, win system Close to language, robust, established/static,
many file formats supported, vis techniques oriented to scientific
visualization Others Class web site: Libraries and Toolkits prefuse
Toolkit in Java for building information visualizations
Fine-grained building blocks for constructing visualizations (as
opposed to pre-made views) Data model is a graph (entities &
relations) Includes library of layout algorithms, navigation and
interaction techniques Written in Java2d Libraries and Toolkits
prefuse Libraries and Toolkits D3 Data-Driven Documents
Javascript-based Very similar to Protovis Except use web
standardse.g., Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) vs. proprietary
graphics set Declarative Syntax like Protovis Creating/Modifying
selections of the HTML DOM Good support for changing data Takes
advantage of CSS3 Transformations and Transitions Integrates
seamlessly into any webpage Libraries and Toolkits D3 Data-Driven
Documents https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Gallery, selectable
exampleshttps://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Gallery Libraries and
Toolkits IBMs Many Eyes Many Eyes IBM website Ease of creating new
visualizations Discuss visualizations Users upload own data sets
All become public table or unstructured text Word tree at right
Libraries and Toolkits Others Piccolo Graphics toolkit with
built-in zooming and panning support 2D Javascript InfoVis Toolkit
Tableau Public Processing Language Software Architecture
Abstraction, languages, toolkits Abstraction is at the core of
computer science and information technology Have allowed the
advances seen in making electronic information systems use E.g.,
advances in languages ASM - > early high level, e.g., FORTRAN -
> structured, Pascal, C - > object-oriented, C++, Java Your
(application) program Application Library (D3, VTK, or anything)
Graphics Library (OpenGL, DirectX, ) Graphics Hardware (frame
buffers, firmware, ) Display (and input) Hardware (screen, mouse,
.) Window System (MS Windows, Apple, Motif) Software Architecture
Applications and layers Applications are programs (that programmers
write) Libraries and software layers have: Application programmer
interfaces (APIs) Your (application) program Application Library
(D3, VTK, or anything) Graphics Library (OpenGL, DirectX, )
Graphics Hardware (frame buffers, firmware, ) Display (and input)
Hardware (screen, mouse, .) Window System (MS Windows, Apple,
Motif) Libraries essentially are higher level, or provide
abstractions, for lower levels In fact, interaction among layers
Software Architecture Interaction among layers E.g., your program
c/c++ or Java program, using, e.g., D3, VTK Uses, e.g., D3
elements, VTK classes Your (application) program Application
Library (D3, VTK or anything) Graphics Library (OpenGL, DirectX, )
Graphics Hardware (frame buffers, firmware, ) Display (and input)
Hardware (screen, mouse, .) Window System (MS Windows, Apple,
Motif) VTK classes use/call: OpenGL, which accesses Graphics
Hardware Also, Window System And input devices, through window
system Also, application can access OpenGL and Window System
directly Term Programming Project End.
