Visualization

Julia has no built-in graphics commands. This means that it is not possible to create some datasets and issue a plot command without first installing and loading a package.

One reason for this is that Julia needs to build a variety of different operating systems (OSs) from source; any libraries that are shipped, such as OpenBLAS and LibUV, must be in source form and not interfere with the building process.

Graphics engines have a variety of different backends, such as Gtk, Qt, and others. While specialist packages may be restricted in terms of their OS support, the overall Julia system may not.

Initially, the inclusion of built-in graphics was seen as a long-term goal and one that would be added in future releases; however, it seems that this is not the case anymore. As we will see, Julia is much better for this.

With the introduction of the Plots API, which we have seen frequently in the previous chapters, it is possible to use a uniform syntax for a variety...