g2 - graphic library (C) 1999 Lj. Milanovic, H. Wagner

Version 0.xx

License Information
===================

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
Lesser General Public License for more details.

See INSTALL for information on how to install g2 see the html
documentation in the doc/ subdirectory for a function reference

What is g2 ? 
============

Short version (if you are in hurry): 

     - 2D graphic library 
     - Simple to use 
     - Supports several types of output devices (currently X11, 
       gd (PNG, JPEG), PostScript) 
     - Concept allows easy implementation of new device types 
     - Virtual devices allow to send output simultaneously to several devices 
     - User definable coordinate system 
     - Written in ANSI-C 
     - Tested under Digital Unix, AIX, Linux, VMS and Windows NT 
     - Fortran interface 

Long version: 

g2 is a simple to use graphics library for 2D graphical applications
written in Ansi-C. This library provides a comprehensive set of
functions for simultaneous generation of graphical output on different
types of devices. Presently, following devices are currently supported
by g2: X11, gd (PNG, JPEG), PostScript (xfig and Win32 are in developement).
One major feature of the g2_library is the concept of virtual devices. An
arbitrary number of physical devices (such as PNG, or X11) can be
grouped to create a so-called virtual device. Commands sent to such a
virtual devices will automatically issued to all attached physical
devices. This allows for example simultaneous output to a PNG file and
a Postscript file. A virtual device in turn can be attached to another
virtual device, allowing to construct trees of devices.  Virtual
devices can also be useful when using different user-coordinate
systems. E.g. one X11 window showing an overview of a graphical
output, and a second window showing a zoom of a more detailed area of
the graphic. Drawing in both windows is performed by one single
command to the virtual device.

                                                                          
                                   /-------> PNG:   g2_attach(id_PNG,... 
            ----------------------- 
g2_plot---> | Virtual device: id |--------> X11:   g2_attach(id_X11,...
            -----------------------
                                   \-------> PS:    g2_attach(id_PS,...

If you don't need or like the concept of virtual devices, simply ignore it. 


CONTACT
=======

You can contact the authors and contributors by e-mail (/ is @ and - is .):

Ljubomir Milanovic 			ljubo/users-sourceforge-net
Horst Wagner       			wagner/users-sourceforge-net
Tijs Michels (spline implementation)	tijs/users-sourceforge-net

or visit g2 home page on:

http://g2.sourceforge.net/


