Alternatives for the backend

[GiggleLiu]

I downloaded this package and played around with it for a while, but I feel GLMakie might not be the best choice for the backend. It is slow to first plot, and can not embed the image inside a Pluto notebook. There are some alternatives that you might be interested.

Compose.jl

Pros

• very fast first plot, the following is the using time

  (base) ➜  ~ time julia -e "using Compose"
  julia -e "using Compose"  0.83s user 0.56s system 182% cpu 0.762 total
  (base) ➜  ~ time julia -e "using GLMakie"
  julia -e "using GLMakie"  4.95s user 0.74s system 108% cpu 5.226 total
  (base) ➜  ~ time julia -e "using Luxor"  
  julia -e "using Luxor"  1.02s user 0.62s system 158% cpu 1.032 total

• Compatible with Pluto notebook with native support to SVG format, The following is an example of my notebook, one can embed the image to the notebook.

Cons

• no latex support
• maintained by the community (or not actively maintained anymore)

Luxor.jl

Pros

• very fast first plot,
• Good documentation and is more actively maintained than Compose.jl

Cons

• no latex support

NOTE：

I am currently using Compose for showing networks (https://github.com/GiggleLiu/Viznet.jl). I feel its functionality is good, but the Compose API is not quite user friendly. Maybe Luxor is the best choice. Both do not have a proper latex support, this is the pain point. But I guess it is not too hard to add the MathJax support for Compose so that it can display latex in Pluto notebooks and other web applications.

[GiggleLiu]

Update: I added in the MathJax support to Compose in this PR: https://github.com/GiovineItalia/Compose.jl/pull/418

Once it got merged, on can show latex in Pluto notebooks and other web pages. (not compatible with IE9 and IE10)