Pwrite_family(3NCARG)

πŸ’– Pwrite_family πŸ’–

okay bestie, so this is a page from the NCAR GRAPHICS manual β€” that's the manual name, it's giving very "vintage scientific plotting library" and honestly? iconic. and yes, it's a <purple>3NCARG</purple> page, section 3, we love a library call. sit down, grab a snack πŸ“, we're doing this.


✨ NAME ✨

Pwrite_family β€” a utility for drawing text and other characters using polylines. that's it, that's the whole vibe: letters, but made out of lines. πŸ’…


🫢 STATUS 🫢

no cap, Pwrite_family is obsolete. it has been replaced by the Plotchar utility. she's retired, she's living her best life, we don't call her anymore.

but listen β€” the entries PWRITX and PWRITY are still provided, for compatibility of early NCAR Graphics codes. so if you've got old code that needs them, they're still here, holding it down. πŸ₯Ή

if you are writing new code, the suggestion is: use Plotchar. periodt. ✨


🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

PWRITX (X,Y,IDPC,NCHAR,JSIZE,JOR,JCTR) - draws characters as stroked
polylines.  It is the higher quality routine of the Pwrite_family.
PWRITY (X,Y,IDPC,NCHAR,JSIZE,JOR,JCTR) - also draws characters as
stroked polylines, but is quicker, of lower quality, and with less
options than PWRITX.

let me translate that for you, bestie:

  • PWRITX (X,Y,IDPC,NCHAR,JSIZE,JOR,JCTR) β€” draws characters as stroked polylines. she is the higher quality routine of the Pwrite_family. main character energy, honestly. πŸ‘‘
  • PWRITY (X,Y,IDPC,NCHAR,JSIZE,JOR,JCTR) β€” also draws characters as stroked polylines, but she's quicker, of lower quality, and with less options than PWRITX. it's giving "fast and loose but she gets the job done" πŸ’€

πŸ’œ ACCESS πŸ’œ

to use PWRITX or PWRITY, you gotta load the NCAR Graphics libraries ncarg, ncarg_gks, ncarg_c, and ncarg_c β€” preferably in that order. 🫑

yes, ncarg_c is listed twice. no, i'm not fixing it. i do not make the rules, i just report them exactly as they are, character for character, because that is the law of the manpage. πŸ’…

πŸ¦‹ SEE ALSO πŸ¦‹

  • Online: pwritx, pwrity, plotchar, plchhq, plchmq, plchlq
  • Hardcopy: NCAR Graphics Fundamentals, UNIX Version; User's Guide for NCAR GKS-0A Graphics

Copyright (C) 1987-2009 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

the use of this Software is governed by a License Agreement. read it, bestie, fr fr. πŸ™ˆ


and that's the page!! πŸ’– this was the Pwrite_family entry from the NCAR GRAPHICS manual, dated March 1993, living on a UNIX system, and it is so giving retro-graphics-core. go forth and draw your little polyline letters, but like... maybe use Plotchar instead. mwah πŸ’‹ 🌈