[with patch, positive review] plot.py improvements part 1: Remove all factories

apply instead of trac_3853.patch

Extra things this patch does:

line([(0,0,0),(1,1,1)]) no longer produces a 3d line, but a 2d line from the first 2 coordinates. Use line3d to get a 3d line.

line(object) no longer tries object.plot() first, which is a very, very good thing, since it is natural to assume that line(object) will be something like a line, but object.plot() could be *anything*.

line no longer has a "coerce" argument; all input data is always coerced to float. I've changed this to use numpy to convert to float; currently, that's a bit faster, from some tests that wstein ran. As wstein mentioned on IRC, we should try to replace the float conversion with a snippet of Cython.

text used to make 3d text when a 3d point was passed; now it only makes 2d text. Use the text3d for 3d text.

well, that coerce comment should really be: I changed this to use numpy in one case; the case where we need to separate the x-values and y-values still coerces to float no matter what. I guess the "line" function, a user-visible function, shouldn't have a coerce=False option; it's too unsafe.

I take that back; I took back out the numpy stuff; we should just make a general cython function that ensures that a list is coerced to float.

That last patch also streamlines a few things and makes a few things more consistent.

Despite the name trac_3880 in the referee patch, it really is the referee patch for this ticket!

referee patch updated to correct documentation and doctests, plus simplify code in xydata... function.

plus throw some errors when trying to do line() or text() and get back a 3d object.

there are still some doctest errors from the referee patch

updated referee patch to fix some more things.

Positive review for the initial part (mhansen's part). The referee patch adds enough functionality that it probably ought to be reviewed as well.

So, apply trac_3853-rebased-3.1.1-trac_3880.patch and then the referee patch to review/merge this ticket.

I think now there is one doctest in plot.py that gives a weird error (it's a doctesting error, not a sage error, I think).

Apply

trac_3853-rebased-3.1.1-trac_3880.patch trac_3880-referee.patch trac_3853-fixes.patch

in order.

There was a thread about the proposed new behavior of line:

line([(0,0,0),(1,1,1)]) no longer produces a 3d line, but a 2d line from the first 2 coordinates. Use line3d to get a 3d line.

http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel/browse_thread/thread/6f4b382145c09546

All the comments were negative. That needs to be addressed, right?

I suspect I may be overstepping my bounds by changing this from positive review to needs work--if so, I'll accept an appropriate wrist slapping.

This looks good to me, it restores the old behavior. If something else is desired it should be dealt with via a new ticket since this code should go in and would bitrot quickly.

Cheers,

Michael

Merged trac_3853-rebased-3.1.1-trac_3880.patch, trac_3880-referee.patch and trac_3853-fixes.2.patch in Sage 3.1.2.alpha1