It's been long enough since I learned it that I don't remember what I used. I learned Protovis first, the library that team made before d3, then adapted my code to d3 when it came out. Not that I recommend doing it that way. :)
It's sort of the precursor to d3; it's not maintained any more. Protovis was very tied to drawing charts, it had backends that would draw things on canvas or SVG, and the library contained things like "line." d3 is much more general: all it does is tie your document structure to data. What that document is, whether it's an SVG drawing so you can draw something, or a list of divs, or whatever, is up to you.
It uses d3's mapping ability to display information over a custom svg map. At least, that's all it is right now. Laying down the base for some cool data visualizations for the growers of a certain crop is the end goal.
13 comments
0 u/randrews 12 Jul 2015 01:18
I've used it a lot, what would you like to know?
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 01:26
Just where to start :)
I'm using "Interactive Data Visualisation for the Web" by Scott Murray to learn it. Do you know it?
0 u/randrews 12 Jul 2015 01:31
It's been long enough since I learned it that I don't remember what I used. I learned Protovis first, the library that team made before d3, then adapted my code to d3 when it came out. Not that I recommend doing it that way. :)
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 01:33
I read something about Protovis before. Well, I'll stay tuned!
0 u/randrews 12 Jul 2015 01:45
It's sort of the precursor to d3; it's not maintained any more. Protovis was very tied to drawing charts, it had backends that would draw things on canvas or SVG, and the library contained things like "line." d3 is much more general: all it does is tie your document structure to data. What that document is, whether it's an SVG drawing so you can draw something, or a list of divs, or whatever, is up to you.
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 01:49
I'm a (geek) journalism student that also does some freelancing on web design. I'm interested in d3.js because of interactive infographics.
0 u/storr 12 Jul 2015 02:56
I have an ongoing project using d3, which I'm learning as I go. If you have any questions I might have some insight.
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 03:12
Thanks! What is your project about?
1 u/storr 12 Jul 2015 20:39
It uses d3's mapping ability to display information over a custom svg map. At least, that's all it is right now. Laying down the base for some cool data visualizations for the growers of a certain crop is the end goal.
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 22:25
Sounds nice! Post it here when you finish
0 u/chrisduncan 12 Jul 2015 21:50
Here's a good mooc on data visualization. Should teach you the basics of d3. What are you trying to accomplish with d3? https://www.udacity.com/course/data-visualization-and-d3js--ud507
0 u/plyruzz [OP] 12 Jul 2015 22:30
I'll give it a try. Thanks! I'm going to do this one
Just my geekness speaking. I'm into data journalism, so I wanted to give it a try.
1 u/chrisduncan 12 Jul 2015 22:39
Duly noted if you need any help with d3.js just ask I don't have very much experience with D3 ,but I'm a fast learner(when it comes to programming).