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D3 in Depth

d3indepth.com

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11–20 of 84 posts

Re: D3 in Depth

#11

Post by laurels-marts »

hajile wrote: post #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.

I’ve been using D3 on and off for quite some time. I’m just starting now with react and visx definitely looks very promising as it bridges the gap nicely. Do you find it limiting though (like you have to fight the tool) to achieve something more custom vs. using plain D3?

Re: D3 in Depth

#12

Post by pphysch »

D3 has an unnecessarily non-intuitive API design, and I think that kills it for a lot of people.

For example, why must a data join be performed like `selection.data(array).join(element-type)` instead of something like `selection.join(element-type, array)`. Looking from a pure API-design perspective, not getting bogged down in the technical details.

Lazy eval method chaining is a natural fit for applying+branching large amounts of HTML/CSS state updates but I feel that the designers took it a bit too far with the core D3 operations.

Re: D3 in Depth

#13

Post by lucisferre »

treflop wrote: post #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 to…

I have used D3 extensively to the point of building integrations for AngularJS and Angular for it. I have always found it to be exceptionally unintuitive even if it is quite powerful. It is easy to get wrong, hard to debug and hard to grok.

Not saying this is an easy problem to solve either. If I needed to generate some very specific data driven graphics it would probably still be my go to.

Re: D3 in Depth

#15

Post by gaws »

sbarre wrote: 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…

Plot and Framework are locked into the Observable ecosystem, which has its own learning curve. Learning D3 offers the best flexibility and control.

Re: D3 in Depth

#16

Post by gedy »

lucisferre wrote: post #13
treflop wrote: post #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 to…

I have used D3 extensively to the point of building integrations for AngularJS and Angular for it. I have always found it to be exceptionally unintuitive even if it is quite powerful. It is easy to get wrong, hard to debug and hard to grok. Not saying this is an easy problem to solve either. If I needed to generate some very specific data driven graphics it would probably still be my go to.

Yes same, and I'm curious of what mental modal it uses as it does not register with me, who otherwise has no problem programming.

Re: D3 in Depth

#17

Post by mbostock »

gaws wrote: post #15
sbarre wrote: 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…

Plot and Framework are locked into the Observable ecosystem, which has its own learning curve. Learning D3 offers the best flexibility and control.

In what way are these free open-source tools “locked-in” to Observable? Observable Plot is a vanilla JavaScript library that is released under the ISC license and can be used with any style of web development (e.g., React, Svelte, whatever). And likewise Observable Framework is released under the ISC license and you’re able to self-host projects anywhere and develop locally?

Re: D3 in Depth

#18

Post by jeffbee »

gaws wrote: post #15
sbarre wrote: 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…

Plot and Framework are locked into the Observable ecosystem, which has its own learning curve. Learning D3 offers the best flexibility and control.

This is like saying that a computer without an operating system offers the best flexibility, or that a pile of sand is more flexible than an assembled computer.

Re: D3 in Depth

#20

Post by vvpan »

treflop wrote: post #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 to…

I have had the same experience. As a tech lead these days I insist that nobody uses libraries that require a high level of domain knowledge. Basically code that is incomprehensible even for the person that wrote it should be avoided as hard as possible. D3 is a prime example of such a library.
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