# \[ANN\]: Gaston v0.7.0 - A package for plotting using gnuplot

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059>\
**Category:** Package Announcements\
**Tags:** announcement, plotting, gaston\
**Created:** [December 29, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059 "2017-12-29T15:25:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mbaz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbaz/32/17295_2.png) [@mbaz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbaz)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059/1 "2017-12-29T15:25:16Z")

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I’m happy to announce that I have just released version 0.7.0 of the plotting package Gaston, which uses gnuplot as a backend. Its main features are:

- Focus on fast and simple plotting both on screen and in a Jupyter notebook.
- No dependencies outside of Base (except gnuplot itself); loads in a fraction of a second.
- 2D, 3D, histogram and image plots are supported, including multiple plots on the screen at the same time.

Git repo/homepage: [GitHub - mbaz/Gaston.jl: A julia front-end for gnuplot.](https://github.com/mbaz/Gaston.jl)

Tutorial: [https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/mbaz/Gaston.jl/blob/master/doc/gaston-tutorial.ipynb](https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/mbaz/Gaston.jl/blob/master/doc/gaston-tutorial.ipynb)

New in 0.7.0:

- Revamped user-facing interface (the old one was really clunky)
- All known bugs fixed
- Lots of refactoring to make the code shorter, simpler and more robust

Interesting fact: Gaston’s first commit was back in [March 2012](https://bitbucket.org/mbaz/gaston/commits/d5df61a8689c3a58dcde132da90cd787d965a772). It is probably one of the oldest Julia packages around. Amazingly, some of that old code is still present in the current version.

Limitations:

- Gaston is focused on speed and simplicity. I think plotting to the screen during data exploration should be fast and non-ugly (if possible). Once the data looks right, a publication-quality plot should be produced with appropriate tools, such as pgfplots.
- gnuplot is designed as a command-line program, so Gaston has to write commands to gnuplot’s STDIN and read results back from STDOUT and STDERR. This interface is limited by its nature; for instance, gnuplot may crash or lockup and there’s no way for Gaston to find out.
- Plot coordinates are fed to gnuplot through a file, which is written by Gaston and then read by gnuplot. This breaks down at large data sizes, a use case Gaston is not optimized for.
- Gaston is not well tested on Windows and not at all on OS-X, which are platforms I don’t have ready access to (or much interest in).
- Gaston has only one developer (me) and I have very limited time to devote to it.

Of course, bug reports, feedback, and contributions are welcome.

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**Author:** ![hustf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/hustf/32/2374_2.png) [@hustf](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/hustf)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059/2 "2017-12-30T20:42:18Z")

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I was quite thrilled to see this in REPL on Windows / cygwin. Does not quite work yet, see issues on Github!

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/2/4/24164e87cddf3ca7498f9ee2855bc9835ef470bf.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![pfarndt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@pfarndt](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pfarndt)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059/3 "2017-12-31T18:38:25Z")

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Awesome work! Works like a charm. Is there a way to show these plots inside the Juno/Atom plot pane?

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**Author:** ![mbaz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbaz/32/17295_2.png) [@mbaz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbaz)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059/4 "2018-01-06T02:42:40Z")

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(Sorry for the late reply – I’ve been too busy these past few days). Thanks for the kind words! And no, I have no idea how to use Gaston along with Juno/Atom, but I’d welcome a pull request if somebody figures it out, as long as it doesn’t add any dependencies and is not too intrusive.

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**Author:** ![PetrKryslUCSD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petrkryslucsd/32/215825_2.png) [@PetrKryslUCSD](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PetrKryslUCSD)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-gaston-v0-7-0-a-package-for-plotting-using-gnuplot/8059/5 "2018-01-15T16:19:22Z")

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Gaston works very well for the types of basic plots that a casual user of plotting needs. In my opinion, Gaston would be the perfect package to suggest to new users of Julia! Simple, fast, and convenient…