gnuplot (was: Re: zsh outside of Emacs)

[Emanuel Berg]

(on topic: gnuplot - last paragraph!)

torys.anderson@gmail.com (Tory S. Anderson) writes:

>> It is not only a matter of copy and paste back and
>> forth! If that is your only concern the whole
>> system is integrated as it is. No, if you have any
>> data in an Emacs buffer, you can immediately put
>> all of Emacs to work on that data, just as you can
>> put all of Emacs to (re)produce it. And this can be
>> automatized big with no glue in between. Now that
>> sounded really advanced but it can be really down
>> to Earth things. You will experience the benefits
>> of an integrated interface with common input
>> methods and documentation/configuration very soon
>> if you didn't already.
>
> Emanuel puts it well; that sort of integrated
> interface and the ability to put emacs tools to use
> on my bash output has served me many, many times.

Thanks for the compliment. You know what they say: a
great Useneter always have one last great post left in
his tank...

Yes, integration is one of the top three or four
benefits of Emacs. To me, it is the most enjoyable
with mail/Usenet (Gnus), then the web (Emacs-w3m), and
only then manpages and the shell. But it depends what
you do, of course, where you are the most benefited.

> It's hard for me to go back to a "dumb terminal" (to
> use the term ironically) now...

Indeed, you never want to take a step back from what
you have achieved. And that can be a problem whenever
you cannot decide what to use... (a "problem" as in
frustration)

Uncanny, by the way, your mention of a "dumb
terminal"! Just before I read your post I did a
gnuplot .gpi file and added a 'set terminal dumb' line
for fast ASCII-only checks. Speaking of gnuplot, I had
to to get gnuplot-mode from MELPA - that was super
easy, but why isn't such a basic mode included in
vanilla Emacs, to offer font lock, indentation, and
invocation? For the few of you who don't know gnuplot
this can serve as an introduction [1] - the Makefile
got a bit complicated, but it isn't anything a
computer literate person cannot decipher in zero time.
Gnuplot is great and can be used not just for
techno-techno-science but for writing, journalism, and
plain cool facts just as well. It should definitely be
associated with Emacs from the holster in all ways
possible, is what I think.

[1] http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/hs-linux/docs/report/pics/plot

-- 
underground experts united