Re: [boost] Re: e4Graph

From: Phlip (pplumlee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-04-04 18:17:44

Proclaimed kevin_vanhorn_at_[hidden] from the mountaintops:
> --- In boost_at_y..., Jeremy Siek <jsiek_at_l...> wrote:
> > Persistence is certainly an important issue. I've recently added
> > input/output to the "dot" file format which is used by Graphviz,
>
> What exactly is graphviz?  I've seen the files for it, but I haven't
> found documentation for it anyplace.  Currently I'm writing my own
> routines for graph (and property) I/O; am I reinventing the wheel?

www.graphviz.org

It's a graph library with several tools built from its core. 'dot' and 
'neato' read text files that describe graphs in a miniature language and 
produce PostScript renderings of them.

Neither are of Tom Sawyer quality for layout. 'dot's tuned for directed 
graphs, and it lays everything out in ranks under a root node. 'neato's 
tuned for non-directed graphs, but its layout algorithm is not aggressive 
enough to keep them from overlapping. But both will bend an edge to get it 
around a node.

Both renderers support a long, overlapping list of features, such as 
square or colored nodes, arrowheads, labels, fixed locations, etc.

The system also has some GUI tools that let you author the two graph types.

I'm unaware of the details of the graph library itself, but I expect it's 
tuned for rendering, not hardcore math things. I use a brute-force graph 
implementation in Python, and write 'dot' files to display the results.

-- 
  Phlip                          phlip_cpp_at_[hidden]
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