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D3 in Depth

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Re: D3 in Depth

#3
post #2

[flagged]

it's literally a javascript library, so I don't understand your complaint here. of course the book and d3 itself are not going to do you much good if you don't know the language it uses!

Re: D3 in Depth

#4
post #2

[flagged]

D3 is great if you want to dynamically visualise data in your webpage. Maybe a bit niche but I wouldn't write it off this cheaply. I say this regardless of your js prowess - it is quite accessible.

Re: D3 in Depth

#5
If you like the idea of using D3 for data visualization but you want something a bit higher level, check out Observable Plot[1], a library by the D3 team that adds a lot of conventions and conveniences on top of D3, specifically for building plots, charts and graphs.

And even beyond that, there's Observable Framework[2], a static site generator for building visualization dashboards (that supports Plot, D3 and lots of other libraries).

1: https://observablehq.com/plot/

2: https://observablehq.com/framework/

Re: D3 in Depth

#6
Learn D3 then (assuming you're doing something chart-like as most of us are) move to something like VisX or some non-React equivalent and never look back.

I view D3 and jQuery as being somewhat similar and both are very prone to spaghetti. Something like VisX adds a lot of structure over the D3 you're using to keep things sane.

Re: D3 in Depth

#7
Even if you never end up using it professionally, I think it's worth it to learn D3. The core point that the library makes is that your projection of the data (say, a 1080p screen, 1920x1080) is always different from the dimensions of the data itself (say, grading from 0-100). At some point you need to decide how to scale the data (0-100) so that it draws correctly according to the projection (1920x1080). You can do the math yourself, or you can use a library like D3 to do the math for you.

Even if you don't draw data on the web, you'll probably eventually draw data somewhere, and you'll be glad to look for an equivalent in that ecosystem.

Re: D3 in Depth

#8
post #7

Even if you never end up using it professionally, I think it's worth it to learn D3. The core point that the library makes is that your projection of the data (say, a 1080p screen, 1920x1080) is always different from the dimensions of the data itself (say, grading from 0-100). At some point you need to decide how to scale the data (0-100) so that it draws correctly according to the projection (1920x1080). You can do…

One of the first things I ever programmed in PHP, of my own creation was a binomial distribution graph png generator.

Pretty sure I had to scale the rectangles I was drawing for the graph according to the dimensions of the png I was making.

It was of course very trivial, and nothing like the amazing things D3 can do. But it was a neat experience, making something of my own for very first time that produced an image on the computer.

Re: D3 in Depth

#9
I like d3 and have built a lot of things in it but every time I go back to it after not using it for a few years, I can never remember much, the docs just confuse me more, and I feel like I’m back at square one.

Whereas you could show me some partial differential equations to solve that I haven’t touched in 10 years and that somehow comes back quicker.

But I also think the d3 reference docs are absolutely horrible too.

Re: D3 in Depth

#10
post #5

If you like the idea of using D3 for data visualization but you want something a bit higher level, check out Observable Plot[1], a library by the D3 team that adds a lot of conventions and conveniences on top of D3, specifically for building plots, charts and graphs. And even beyond that, there's Observable Framework[2], a static site generator for building visualization dashboards (that supports Plot, D3 and lots of…

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