Re: Venn diagrams

[Kai Torben Ohlhus]

On 1/20/20 10:30 AM, Francesco Potortì wrote:
> 
> In the end I wrote functions to draw 2- and 3-circles Venn diagrams.
> The core is there and seems to work well.  Missing things are better
> documentation, some more tests, and user interface improvements (ok,
> maybe the name too...)
> 
> The code is at http://fly.isti.cnr.it/pub/software/octave/venn3circles.m
> 
> To give it a try, just do
> octave> demo venn3circles
> 
> I need some advice.
> 
> - What type of interface should I use (arguments, output results, help
>   text for functions)?  Maybe take
>   https://it.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/22282-venn as a
>   model?  Or else, which Octave function do you suggest as template?


If you want to win users over from ML fileexchange to your function,
this is a good idea.  They can just use a common interface in both
Octave and Matlab, if you decide to support both (see below).


> - Should I try and add utilities for creating full-featured Venn
>   diagrams (labels, legend)?  Ideas welcome.


I would prefer a lightweight interface which allows easy customization.
 Why caring about labels in a venn-diagram function, if I can add labels
with the respective command (one function, one purpose)?


> - Should I try and make the syntax Matlab-compatible?  I have never
>   tried this, maybe it is not worth, as I have no easy way to keep
>   checking for compatibility in the future as I do not use Matlab


This depends on your intended code location.  If it should go into
Octave core, or should become an Octave Forge community package,
Matlab-compatibility is almost impossible.  You have to use "#"
comments, for example.


> - There is some introductory text at the beginning of the file, plus
>   some docs for each function.  Is there a standard way where and how to
>   put a general discussion (documentation) about the software?


Again, this depends on your intended code location.  For Octave core
there is the user manual for general documentation

   https://octave.org/doc/interpreter/

OF packages have their custom manual, e.g.

   https://octave.sourceforge.io/interval/package_doc/

or the wiki

   https://wiki.octave.org/Interval_package


> - Would it make sense to contact some package author and work to include
>   this in into a package? Which one?


When looking at the overview, unfortunately, only the "miscellaneous"
packages comes to my mind...

  https://octave.sourceforge.io/miscellaneous/overview.html
  https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php

Maybe start an own one.  A package in my opinion should not consists of
only one function, but if you have venn3(), venn2(), why not an own
package (one tool, one purpose)?

HTH,
Kai