SQL database + Octave data visualization

[sunshine]

Hi!

I am not sure if this is the best place for my posting ...
I am currently evaluating some alternatives to Origin for scientific
data visualization. Personally I have been programming a lot in Matlab
until I read about the free alternative Octave. This brought up the
idea to setup a system that is entirely based on open-source software
with Matlab-like scripting capabilities.

The goal is to have an integrated database/data visualization system
that consists of:
- A Linux server running a mySQL database
- Windwos Vista clients that run Octave/Gnuplot
- A GUI that talks to the mySQL database and also to Octave

The user should be able to easily select a dataset on the server and
to have a push-button functionality (templates) for standard plots.
The graphs should be presentation quality. It would be nice to have a
possibility to have a report generation functionality that produces a
summary containing the key parameters, the corresponding graphs and
some statistics.

Does anybody have experience to set up such a complex system. Does
this seem like a good approach?
I would be glad for recommendations.

Thanks

[Jon Harrop]

Post by sunshine
I would be glad for recommendations.

Have a look at Microsoft's F# programming language. It bundles everything
you need:

. MATLAB interoperability.
. Windows Forms GUI programming.
. Visualization using any .NET libraries.

We are also developing a visualization library specifically for F#:

http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/fsharp_for_visualization/

I'd like to know what your requirements are in case we can accommodate them.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Jon Harrop

Post by sunshine
I would be glad for recommendations.

Have a look at Microsoft's F# programming language. It bundles everything
. MATLAB interoperability.
. Windows Forms GUI programming.
. Visualization using any .NET libraries.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/fsharp_for_visualization/
I'd like to know what your requirements are in case we can accommodate them.

My requirements are very simple, and you can easily accommodate them. Just
re-tune your language. It's exactly three tones out.

Anyone thinking about locking themselves into F# would do well to look at
what happened to J++ users.

[sunshine]

Hi,

I just installed Octave and tried it out with both the Gnuplot and the
matlab style jhandles. It works but the interactivity in the graph
window is pretty limited (basically rotation and zooming).
Could you recommend me a particular GUI that adds more interactive
plotting features to Octave as we know it from Matlab. Additionally I
wish to add customs menus for repeating tasks such as curve-fitting,
adding legends, ...).
Also, did anyone have Octave access a measurement database (e.g.
mySQL) and plot directly the data points? Is this a feasible approach.
I would like to estimate the programing effort for setting up such a
framework. From the technical level we are more scientists than
programmers. Matlab-like programming style is o.k. but we prefer not
to code in C, C++, Java by ourselves.

Regards,
David

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Jon Harrop

Post by sunshine
I would be glad for recommendations.

Have a look at Microsoft's F# programming language. It bundles everything
. MATLAB interoperability.
. Windows Forms GUI programming.
. Visualization using any .NET libraries.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/fsharp_for_visualization/
I'd like to know what your requirements are in case we can accommodate them.

My requirements are very simple, and you can easily accommodate them. Just
re-tune your language. It's exactly three tones out.
Anyone thinking about locking themselves into F# would do well to look at
what happened to J++ users.
--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999

[Mr. Arnold]

Post by sunshine
Hi,
I just installed Octave and tried it out with both the Gnuplot and the
matlab style jhandles. It works but the interactivity in the graph
window is pretty limited (basically rotation and zooming).
Could you recommend me a particular GUI that adds more interactive
plotting features to Octave as we know it from Matlab. Additionally I
wish to add customs menus for repeating tasks such as curve-fitting,
adding legends, ...).

The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had the
word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme --- long
live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man. :)

[Malcolm McLean]

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had the
word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme ---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.
:)

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess we're
lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.
The fact that Richard Heathfield made this argument doesn't make it
fallacious.

[Mr. Arnold]

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had the
word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme ---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.
:)

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.
The fact that Richard Heathfield made this argument doesn't make it
fallacious.

Sorry, I have tangled with King Little Richard on more than a few occasions
to know exactly where that lunatic is coming from. I wouldn't trust anything
he has to say no more than I could pick up a building and toss it somewhere.
They have kissed his behind parts and blew his head-up so much in this NG to
the point that he thinks he is a super being, and he believes it. :)

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had
the word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme
---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.
:)

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.

Malcolm, I know that arguing with trolls can be fun at times, but don't
forget to wash your hands afterwards. :-)

Post by Malcolm McLean
The fact that Richard Heathfield made this argument doesn't make it
fallacious.

Strange, but true.

[Mr. Arnold]

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had
the word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme
---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.
:)

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.

Malcolm, I know that arguing with trolls can be fun at times, but don't
forget to wash your hands afterwards. :-)

The bottom line here is if one doesn't adhere to the king's wishes, dares to
have MS on their breath or someone stands up to him with his harassment and
won't kiss his John Brown behind parts, then he labels them a troll. :)

[Randy Howard]

Post by Mr. Arnold

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had
the word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme
---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.

Malcolm, I know that arguing with trolls can be fun at times, but don't
forget to wash your hands afterwards. :-)

The bottom line here is if one doesn't adhere to the king's wishes, dares to
have MS on their breath or someone stands up to him with his harassment and
won't kiss his John Brown behind parts, then he labels them a troll. :)

That would be a lot more appropriate if it was consistent with
Richard's posting history. I remember seeing posts of his talking
about MSVC being a credible C89 (Richard might have written ISO C90
instead, not sure) compiler. Surely someone that abhors all things
Microsoft could never have done that.

[Richard Heathfield]

<snip>

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold
The bottom line here is if one doesn't adhere to the king's wishes,
dares to have MS on their breath or someone stands up to him with his
harassment and won't kiss his John Brown behind parts, then he labels
them a troll. :)

That would be a lot more appropriate if it was consistent with
Richard's posting history.

Well, we don't expect trolls to get the facts right, do we?

Post by Randy Howard
I remember seeing posts of his talking
about MSVC being a credible C89 (Richard might have written ISO C90
instead, not sure) compiler. Surely someone that abhors all things
Microsoft could never have done that.

Quite so. Not only is MSVC a /credible/ C89 (or C90, they're effectively
the same thing) compiler, but it's actually a very good one. Version 6 of
Visual Studio is actually a very, very nice piece of kit. And yes, I have
said as much in the past.

What's more, the Win32 API is wonderful. And yes, I have said as much in
the past. When I get the opportunity (which, alas, isn't all that often
these days), I find Win32 programming rather enjoyable.

What else?

Oh yeah. Excel. That's pretty cool too. I do like Excel.

[Malcolm McLean]

Post by Richard Heathfield
What's more, the Win32 API is wonderful. And yes, I have said as much in
the past. When I get the opportunity (which, alas, isn't all that often
these days), I find Win32 programming rather enjoyable.

It's better than X. That's because X was designed to run on a remote
"client" and cut down terminal "server". Yes, that's right, they even
reversed the normal meanings of the words client and server.

In fact it's not fast enough to be practical to run the client over a remote
connection. Then the graphics are all bit-plotted and the portability kind
of qorks but not quite. Finally the core protocol provides only primitives.
Whilst in itself that is a good thing, it means that you cannot rely on a
toolkit being present. Then some of the toolkits don't integrate. For
instance there is an Open GL utlities toolkit, but it insists on controlling
the main event loop yourself. So if you want open GL with a few buttons,
either do the buttons in Open GL, or forget about the toolkit.

However X is usable. 90% of the time you just want a window with some
graphics, and a few buttons and menus. So pretty much any system will work.

[Randy Howard]

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Richard Heathfield
What's more, the Win32 API is wonderful. And yes, I have said as much in
the past. When I get the opportunity (which, alas, isn't all that often
these days), I find Win32 programming rather enjoyable.

It's better than X. That's because X was designed to run on a remote
"client" and cut down terminal "server". Yes, that's right, they even
reversed the normal meanings of the words client and server.
In fact it's not fast enough to be practical to run the client over a remote
connection.

Strange, as it was plenty fast to do it 15-20 years ago. X-terminals
where in a lot of places, and they worked quite well.

[Malcolm McLean]

Post by Randy Howard
Strange, as it was plenty fast to do it 15-20 years ago. X-terminals
where in a lot of places, and they worked quite well.

Users are more demanding now. You could achieve acceptable performance by
freezing all the windows into place, but nowadays people expect to be able
to pull down menus and pop up popups, and to dock and to scroll, and it all
makes a much greater burden on the connection.

[Randy Howard]

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Randy Howard
Strange, as it was plenty fast to do it 15-20 years ago. X-terminals
where in a lot of places, and they worked quite well.

Users are more demanding now. You could achieve acceptable performance by
freezing all the windows into place, but nowadays people expect to be able
to pull down menus and pop up popups, and to dock and to scroll, and it all
makes a much greater burden on the connection.

True, but we aren't using COAX and 10mbit (or slower) connections
through half-duplex hubs anymore either.

The fact that products like VNC exist today pretty much prove it's
still possible to get all your eye candy if you want it.

[David Tiktin]

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Richard Heathfield
What's more, the Win32 API is wonderful. And yes, I have said as
much in the past. When I get the opportunity (which, alas, isn't
all that often these days), I find Win32 programming rather
enjoyable.

It's better than X. That's because X was designed to run on a
remote "client" and cut down terminal "server". Yes, that's right,
they even reversed the normal meanings of the words client and
server.

The X Window System considers the "display" (screens, input devices,
etc.) as resources to which the server provides (shared) access,
typically to multiple clients. And in TCP terms, the display server
listens for connections on well-known TCP ports. I don't see how
either is a reversal of the "normal meanings." Yes, if you sit at an
X-terminal and execute programs on remote hosts which display on the
screen in front of you, the terminology seems odd since you're
sitting "at the server end," so to speak, and we're used to sitting
at the "client end." But it's correct both conceptually in terms of
roles played and in IP networking terms. Which "normal meanings" did
you have in mind?

Dave

[Steve O'Hara-Smith]

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:23:04 -0000

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Richard Heathfield
What's more, the Win32 API is wonderful. And yes, I have said as much in
the past. When I get the opportunity (which, alas, isn't all that often
these days), I find Win32 programming rather enjoyable.

It's better than X. That's because X was designed to run on a remote
"client" and cut down terminal "server". Yes, that's right, they even
reversed the normal meanings of the words client and server.

No they didn't, when that terminology was first used in X "server"
meant a program providing a service and "client" meant a program using a
service. It is worthwhile to note here that one program may well be (and
commonly is) both a client of some services and a server of others
consider "middleware" which is typically a provider of services and a
client of a database server.

The X server was (and is) a program providing a display service,
the X client(s) were (and are) programs using the display service.
Perfectly correct and normal use of well defined terms.

It was some time later that server came to mean hulking great high
powered computer in a machine room with no display or keyboard and client to
mean computer with a display, keyboard and mouse sat on a desk. This was
and is a bad distortion of the original and useful meaning of the terms
which has come to be accepted.

[Mr. Arnold]

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had
the word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme
---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.

Malcolm, I know that arguing with trolls can be fun at times, but don't
forget to wash your hands afterwards. :-)

The bottom line here is if one doesn't adhere to the king's wishes, dares to
have MS on their breath or someone stands up to him with his harassment and
won't kiss his John Brown behind parts, then he labels them a troll. :)

That would be a lot more appropriate if it was consistent with
Richard's posting history. I remember seeing posts of his talking
about MSVC being a credible C89 (Richard might have written ISO C90
instead, not sure) compiler. Surely someone that abhors all things
Microsoft could never have done that.

What King Little Richard has done in the past, and what he is he is doing
currently are two different things. His posting history is based on what
that lunatic has posted to me. I don't care what he did in the past. He has
surely showed is John Brown behind parts to me concerning MS and .NET. And
then he wanted me to kiss is John Brown behind parts talking about "we don't
do it this way in this NG", as his head started to get big. That lunatic can
drop dead.

[Randy Howard]

Post by Mr. Arnold

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Malcolm McLean

Post by Mr. Arnold
The only reason King Little Richard even showed up is because you had
the word Microsoft on your breath. His majesty is a MS basher supreme
---
long live Kind Little Richard. He is the man so he thinks, a man's man.

But he had a case. Which was that F# would go the way of J++. I guess
we're lucky that the musical scale doesn't go to J.

Malcolm, I know that arguing with trolls can be fun at times, but don't
forget to wash your hands afterwards. :-)

The bottom line here is if one doesn't adhere to the king's wishes, dares to
have MS on their breath or someone stands up to him with his harassment and
won't kiss his John Brown behind parts, then he labels them a troll. :)

That would be a lot more appropriate if it was consistent with
Richard's posting history. I remember seeing posts of his talking
about MSVC being a credible C89 (Richard might have written ISO C90
instead, not sure) compiler. Surely someone that abhors all things
Microsoft could never have done that.

What King Little Richard has done in the past, and what he is he is doing
currently are two different things.

Funny. Look at his most recent post in this thread then. You'll be
disappointed.

Post by Mr. Arnold
His posting history is based on what that lunatic has posted to me.

You won't be shocked (hopefully) to learn that most people don't use
his followups to you (posts to you don't exist on Usenet, since they're
not directed at individual receivers) as a definition for "posting
history".

Post by Mr. Arnold
I don't care what he did in the past.

Apparently you do care, and care a great deal. Because you seem hell
bent toward bitching about him as a result.

Post by Mr. Arnold
He has surely showed is John Brown behind parts to me

Could you explain the above? It appears to be some sort of slang
expression or something that I am not familiar with.

Post by Mr. Arnold
concerning MS and .NET. And then he wanted me to kiss is John Brown behind
parts talking about "we don't do it this way in this NG",

Are you confused about what newsgroup(s) you are in? .NET is clearly
discussed here (comp.programming) quite often, and is on topic. I
don't know anything about the comp.sys-soft.octave newsgroup, so
perhaps that is the entity you are concerned with? If so, perhaps you
should stop crossposting to a forum where it is topical and complaining
about it be called not topical.

If you're lost, check out the newsgroups line on the message headers
and that should help you.

Post by Mr. Arnold
lunatic can drop dead.

We all will at some point, but I fail to see how that's important here.

[Mr. Arnold]

"Randy Howard" <***@FOOverizonBAR.net> wrote in message news:***@news.verizon.net...

<snipped>

Let us step back here, a second. You are not Perry Mason, so stop asking
questions. I distinctly remember you saying that you would ignore me a few
months ago. You should hold yourself to it.

You don't mean anything to me, and I put you in the same boat as King
Little Richard. You're not even in the game anymore. You're retired. So,
act like you're retired and walk on of into the sunset.

[Randy Howard]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
Let us step back here, a second.

Okay, facts got in the way of your rant, and you want to snip it all
away. Why am I not surprised?

Post by Mr. Arnold
You are not Perry Mason, so stop asking questions.

You'll understand if I don't decide to let you tell me what to do, but
fwiw, I never claimed to be an attorney.

I distinctly remember you saying that you would ignore me a few

Post by Mr. Arnold
months ago. You should hold yourself to it.

The contents of my killfile are up to me, and only to me.

Why not just admit that you screwed up and thought you were in
comp.lang.c when you started this little charade, and while you're at
at it, admit that Richard isn't automatically against all things
Microsoft liked you claimed?

Not grown up enough to admit the truth, even when everyone else already
knows it?

[Mr. Arnold]

"Randy Howard" <***@FOOverizonBAR.net> wrote in message news:***@news.verizon.net...

<snipped>

It's not read and good bye.

[Randy Howard]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
It's not read and good bye.

Game, set, match.

[What??]

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
It's not read and good bye.

Game, set, match.

The only game, set, and match I see is that you seem to need to be
locked-up. You got some real problems. A person tells you that he
doesn't want to be bothered with you and you still post? You got some
real issues.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by What??

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
It's not read and good bye.

Game, set, match.

The only game, set, and match I see is that you seem to need to be
locked-up. You got some real problems. A person tells you that he
doesn't want to be bothered with you and you still post? You got some
real issues.

Well, Mr Puppet, I don't want to be bothered either with you or with Mr
Arnold (whose articles, by an amazing co-incidence, have a very similar
path to yours). Therefore, by your own argument, either you won't be
posting here from now on, or you "got some real issues".

But of course you won't consider your own arguments to apply to you, will
you? Logic is never a strong point with trolls.

[What??]

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by What??

Post by Randy Howard

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
It's not read and good bye.

Game, set, match.

The only game, set, and match I see is that you seem to need to be
locked-up. You got some real problems. A person tells you that he
doesn't want to be bothered with you and you still post? You got some
real issues.

Well, Mr Puppet, I don't want to be bothered either with you or with Mr
Arnold (whose articles, by an amazing co-incidence, have a very similar
path to yours). Therefore, by your own argument, either you won't be
posting here from now on, or you "got some real issues".
But of course you won't consider your own arguments to apply to you, will
you? Logic is never a strong point with trolls.

Well, I have an old fool out of America and an old fool out of Europe
kissing each other's ass. That's good foreign relationship. Neither one
of you stupid clowns have any discipline. All one has to do is bait the
hook and watch two old fool fish jump out of the water. I got the
pictures -- click and click. :)

[Richard Heathfield]

<snip>

Post by What??

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by What??
You got some real problems. A person tells you that he
doesn't want to be bothered with you and you still post? You got some
real issues.

Well, Mr Puppet, I don't want to be bothered either with you or with Mr
Arnold (whose articles, by an amazing co-incidence, have a very similar
path to yours). [...]

Well, I have an old fool out of America and an old fool out of Europe
kissing each other's ass. That's good foreign relationship. Neither one
of you stupid clowns have any discipline. All one has to do is bait the
hook and watch two old fool fish jump out of the water. I got the
pictures -- click and click. :)

You got some real problems. A person tells you that he doesn't want to be
bothered with you and you still post? You got some real issues.

[What??]

<snipped>

I don't know what you're talking about. You're confused.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
I don't know what you're talking about.

That is always very, very obvious.

Post by Mr. Arnold
You're confused.

No, it's *you* who doesn't know what *I'm* talking about.

As usual.

And it's *you* who is jumping to incorrect conclusions.

As usual.

That means it's you that's confused.

As usual.

You are not expected to understand this. Neither is your master.

[What??]

Richard Heathfield wrote:

<snipped>

Ladies and gentlemen there is something wrong with this person. This
person is a weak individual, and it doesn't take much to open his nose.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
Ladies and gentlemen there is something wrong with this person.

You are trying to play the man because you don't know how to play the ball.
If you don't want people to realise you're Mr Duane Arnold in disguise,
you'll have to pretend to be intelligent enough to argue the points raised
in the discussion.

We were talking about vendor lock-in. Do you have anything to contribute to
that discussion?

Feel free to launch another childish personal attack if you can't think of
anything constructive to say. After all, we all know who you are, so we
don't really expect anything better. But if you're in the mood to surprise
us with a glimmer of rational thought, well, go for it.

[What??]

<snipped>

And then ladies and gentlemen, he wants to do some justification
blabber trying to defend his weakness, and his NG lapdog behavior give
the dog a bone. The man is sick in the head sick -- sick -- sick.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
And then ladies and gentlemen, he wants to do some justification
blabber trying to defend his weakness, and his NG lapdog behavior give
the dog a bone. The man is sick in the head sick -- sick -- sick.

Do you have any technical contributions to make to the discussion?

[What??]

Richard Heathfield wrote:

<snipped>

LOL, bow wow Richard you are a dog's dog, you'll chase a bone tossed
your way 24/7 * 365.

I am just tossing biscuits to you.

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
LOL, bow wow Richard you are a dog's dog, you'll chase a bone tossed
your way 24/7 * 365.
I am just tossing biscuits to you.

For the third time, Mr Arnold, do you have any technical contributions to
make to this discussion?

[What??]

Richard Heathfield wrote:

<snipped>

I see your dog yapping is slowing down.

Hey, I'll get a bag of treats for you later this year. I am going to
place a special order for you to get the medicated ones.

http://www.saltypawsbiscuits.com/

And then you can get my slippers. :)

Until we meet again!

[Richard Heathfield]

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
I see your dog yapping is slowing down.

Mr Arnold, you have been asked several times whether you have any technical
contribution to make to the discussion, and you have instead seen fit to
indulge in puerile attempts at mockery on each occasion.

[What??]

Post by Richard Heathfield

Post by Mr. Arnold
<snipped>
I see your dog yapping is slowing down.

Mr Arnold, you have been asked several times whether you have any technical
contribution to make to the discussion, and you have instead seen fit to
indulge in puerile attempts at mockery on each occasion.

Someone would say you don't control anything, and I myself, I don't know
what you're talking about.