Re: Scientific Plotting Software

James Weaver 301-594-5879 FAX 301-594-3037 (WEAVER@cder.fda.gov)
Thu, 31 Aug 1995 16:55:53 -0400 (EDT)

I have not found a single package that covers all of my needs. I currently use
SlideWrite 4.0/DOS, PsiPlot/DOS, and Quattro Pro 5.0/Win for various needs.

SlideWrite: Reasonably good for making single graphs, more difficult for making
multigraph pages, suffers from needless memory limitations, could not handle 2x
10K event plots. WYSIWYG preview screen is not accurate.

PsiPlot: Quirky program, Presentation very plastic and adjustable, what I use to
make inset plots. Less user friendly than SlideWrite. Limited to included fonts.
Spreadsheet & Plot are NOT interactive, if you change the data, you must
recreate the plot, which is quite aggrevating. Worth the investment.

Quattro Pro 5.0/Win: My choice when I need interactive adjustment of data, ie
scaling plots along one axis to compare peak shapes etc. Allows only 6 series of
data, VERY irritating and does not have errorbars of any type although it
calculates Std Dev.

For curve fitting I used a program originally written by a channel physiologist
called NFIT. It is very powerful and fast. The results can be plotted to the
screen but not printed. Export as ASCII easy and canbe incorported into other
plotting programs. Company I bought it from is out out business but the
copyright is owned by U. Texas/Galveston.

-Jim

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James L. Weaver Email: WEAVER@CDER.FDA.GOV
Molecular Pharmacology Phone: 301-594-5879
Division of Research & Testing FAX: 301-594-3037
ORR, CDER, Food & Drug Admin.
Laurel, MD
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