[RFC]: Development of a Dedicated ASCII Plotter for Benchmark Visualization

[Jai0401]

Description

This RFC proposes the development of a dedicated ASCII plotter specifically designed for visualizing benchmark data. The ASCII plotter will provide a lightweight and platform-independent method for representing benchmarking results, enhancing data visualization capabilities within our software.

Proposed Implementation

ASCII Plotter Design
The ASCII plotter will be designed to support various plot types commonly used for benchmark visualization, such as line plots, bar charts, histograms, and scatter plots. It will include features for customizing axes labels, titles, colors, and other styling options to ensure flexibility in data representation.

Benchmark Data Integration
The ASCII plotter will integrate seamlessly with our benchmarking module, allowing users to generate plots directly from benchmarking data. The plotter will support input formats commonly used for benchmark results, ensuring compatibility and ease of use.

Expected Benefits

• Clear Visualization: The ASCII plotter will provide clear and concise visual representations of benchmarking data, aiding in performance analysis and decision-making.
• Platform Compatibility: ASCII plots can be generated and viewed on a wide range of platforms without dependencies on graphical libraries, ensuring compatibility and accessibility.
• Simplified Workflow: Integrating the plotter with our benchmarking module will streamline the process of generating and sharing benchmark visualizations, improving workflow efficiency.

Related Issues

Related issues #1936 , stdlib-js/google-summer-of-code#6

Questions

No.

Other

References

• ASCII Art Wikipedia: ASCII Art Wikipedia
• We have some existing Unicode plotters in https://github.com/stdlib-js/stdlib/tree/develop/lib/node_modules/%40stdlib/plot (see sparklines and unicode folders).

Checklist

• I have read and understood the Code of Conduct.
• Searched for existing issues and pull requests.
• The issue name begins with RFC:.

[kgryte]

Thanks, @Jai0401, for opening this RFC. Probably worth investigating whether there exists prior art we might be interested in studying and learning from before settling on a path forward for stdlib. Some initial resources:

• https://github.com/w2sv/asciiplot
• https://github.com/chriswolfvision/eplot (uses gnuplot under-the-hood)
• https://github.com/glamp/bashplotlib
• https://github.com/kroitor/asciichart
• https://github.com/tenox7/ttyplot
• https://github.com/nschloe/termplotlib
• https://github.com/tammoippen/plotille
• https://github.com/piccolomo/plotext
• https://github.com/red-data-tools/YouPlot

There are likely many others.