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To follow-up on a previous question TikZ datavisualization or pgfplots?, the current release of TikZ 3.0 has a flexible datavisualization engine that creates the same kind of plots as the more mature plotting package pgfplots.
What is the current recommendation for producing complete plots in LaTeX?
Converting my comment into an answer:
As of pgf v3.0, the datavis library is released to CTAN (no longer CVS-only). So the objective answer is "use whichever you prefer". You will likely find proponents on both sides of the fence. But there is a greater user/community support base for pgfplots because, as you note, it is more mature at this point.
I personally prefer pgfplots, because datavis currently feels too verbose/pedantic for my taste. I'd rather have the pgfplots approach of "there are defaults here; customize them if/when needed". But again, this part is opinion-based. My opinion may change over time, and others have different opinions of course.
With a bit of time invested in learning, you can produce beautiful plots with either system. Happy TeXing/plotting! :-)
pedantic/verbose also imply that it enables users to make more customization?
datavisualization and PGFplots offer different plots when no customization keys are used but you could customize one to look like the other or the other to look like the one. I think what Paul meant was that in datavis the keys are more verbal, just that.
Oct 11, 2016 at 6:04