He really emphasizes the low-level at which D3 operates, as you move from creating shapes with divs and CSS, to eventually learning the D3 framework. Here's his section on "What [D3] Doesn't Do": http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000345/ch02.htm...
This book is very good and I highly recommend it if you're just starting out. But I didn't feel like I really understood how d3 works until I read these two articles by Mike Bostocks himself.
Ya, I read this book in a spare afternoon several weeks ago. Most developers can skip the background/introduction chapters but jump directly to the core (but the basics) of d3.js library.
The author has clearly explained how people misunderstand this library because of the fancy sample list. Moreover, d3 is more likely a data abstraction layer rather than a graphics or plotting tool. It gives an interface to represent the data by SVG graphical components.
My mistake with the "in" part - I meant to say libraries that work well with Angular.
I actually saw your demo while researching and it more or less what we need, however the software I'm working on is licensed under new BSD and we were hoping to distribute for free.
Looks like an excellent library you've built though. Thanks for replying.
At the same time, D3 makes all sorts of smart decisions for you when you're making charts with it. I'm always pleasantly surprised, for example, by how D3 picks just the right number of tick marks on axes. Mike Bostock has taste and deep knowledge of how to make good visualizations, and it shows. A similar library made by a less able person would barf out way uglier charts.
The author's assertion that D3 doesn't work with Angular is rather fishy seeing as there is a book specifically written about using D3 with Angular: https://leanpub.com/d3angularjs
He doesn't assert that it doesn't work with it. Rather, the author states you shouldn't interact heavily with the DOM with both Angular and D3 - choose one to keep things simpler.
I'm kinda surprised that people didn't turn d3 into single page application framework. It has much cooler interface than most of the stuff that flies around these days in that department.
The iD editor for OpenStreetMap is a nice example of how to build a large single-page web application with d3 (and without jQuery, Backbone, or any other large JS libraries): https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD
I quickly discovered the same things about SVG/Canvas when I tried to use it for a game board. It was a casual project so I didn't search too hard for other options but I'll take a look at your list you provided. Thanks!
d3 is very powerful, has an amazing api, and it's incredible library. but my processor goes insane running trivial d3 animations (macbook pro core-2-duo 2009). with css 3d, webgl, I don't have processor issues, but god-damn the d3 api is one of the best I've ever used for animations
He really emphasizes the low-level at which D3 operates, as you move from creating shapes with divs and CSS, to eventually learning the D3 framework. Here's his section on "What [D3] Doesn't Do": http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000345/ch02.htm...