README File for the Dataplot Software
A. What is Dataplot?
Dataplot is a statistical graphical data analysis program that has been integrated with the NIST/ SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods. Note that although Dataplot has been integrated with the e-Handbook, they are in fact separate products. That is, you can use the e-Handbook without using Dataplot. Likewise, you can run Dataplot independently of the e-Handbook.
Dataplot was developed by Dr. Jim Filliben of the NIST Statistical Engineering Division. It is currently maintained by Alan Heckert and Jim Filliben of the NIST Statistical Engineering Division.
The software is provided on the CD as a convenience. You can download the most current public version of the Dataplot software from the NIST Dataplot web site:
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/software/dataplot/
Click on the "Download" button for information on downloaing Dataplot. The version of the software on the CD is current as of 10/2002. You can check the "News" button on the NIST Dataplot web site for a list of enhancements since that date.
The basic Dataplot program runs as a command line program. In addition, there is a graphical user interface (GUI) for Dataplot. The GUI was written by Robert Lipmann of NIST using the Tcl/Tk and Expect scripting languages.
B. What is on the CD?
The CD contains the following:
1. Dataplot executables for the following platforms:
a. Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
b. Sun Solaris
c. SGI (version 6.5 of the IRIX operating system)
d. Red Hat Linux (built using version 7.2)
e. IBM RS-6000
f. Mac OSX (currently, this is Unix/X11 based port)
g. Dec Alpha
h. Berkeley BSD (a slightly out of date version)
i. HP 9000 (a slightly out of date version)
The Dataplot executables are stored in the "exe" directory.
Unix executables (including Mac OSX) are stored in the "exe/unix" directory. See the "exe/unix/README" file for installation instructions for Unix platforms.
The Windows executable is stored in the "exe/pc" directory. See the "exe/pc/README" file for installation instructions for Windows platforms.
2. The Dataplot auxillary files:
a. The online help files, sample macros and programs, sample data files, and so on. These files are used for both the command line version and GUI version.
b. The Tcl/Tk scripts used to implement the Dataplot GUI.
c. The menu files used for the Dataplot GUI. Note that the content of the menus in the Dataplot GUI are stored as ASCII files.
See the file "lib/README" for details.
Note that the Windows implementation automatically installs these files when it installs the executable file.
3. The Dataplot source code:
Executables are available for most common Windows and Unix implementations. This means that most users will be able to install a pre-built version of Dataplot. However, those who have unsupported platforms or incompatible versions of the operating system may need to perform a build from source.
The list of available platforms is primarily determined by what hardware we have available to us at NIST.
Portability has been a design goal of Dataplot from the beginning. For example, the primary development platform for Dataplot over the years has evolved from the Univac EXEC 8, VAX/ VMS, CDC NOS/VE, PC DOS, and the Sun Solaris. Dataplot is written primarily in Fortran 77 (some graphics device drivers are written in C). So if your platform supports a good 32-bit Fortran compiler, it should be possible to port Dataplot. If you do not have a Fortran compiler, you might be able to use the f2c program (available from netlib) to build Dataplot.
The source code is stored in the "src" directory. See the "src/README" file for instructions if you need to build Dataplot from the source code.
2
kubaLSW