C3.js vs D3.js vs Highcharts: What are the differences?
C3.js, D3.js, and Highcharts are all popular JavaScript libraries used for creating interactive and visually appealing charts and graphs on websites. While they serve the same purpose, there are some key differences between them that make each library unique and suitable for different types of projects.
Programming Paradigm: C3.js and Highcharts both follow a higher-level, declarative programming approach, where you define the desired output and the library handles the underlying implementation details. On the other hand, D3.js is a low-level, imperative library that provides complete control over every aspect of the visualization, making it more suitable for complex and customized visualizations.
Learning Curve: D3.js has a steeper learning curve compared to C3.js and Highcharts. Since D3.js provides lower-level control and more flexibility, it requires a stronger understanding of JavaScript and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) concepts. C3.js and Highcharts, on the other hand, abstract away much of the complexity, allowing developers to create charts and graphs with less effort.
Community and Documentation: D3.js has a large and active community, which means that finding resources, examples, and support is relatively easier. The community also contributes to the extensive documentation available for D3.js. C3.js and Highcharts also have a decent community support and documentation, but they may not be as comprehensive as D3.js.
Chart Types and Customization: D3.js offers the most extensive range of chart types and customization options among the three libraries. With D3.js, you can create virtually any type of chart or graph and have complete control over its appearance and behavior. C3.js and Highcharts have a wide variety of pre-built chart types and customization options, but they may have some limitations when it comes to complex visualization requirements.
Interactivity and Animation: D3.js provides powerful interactivity and animation capabilities, allowing for smooth transitions and dynamic updates in the visualization. C3.js and Highcharts also offer interactivity and animation features, but they may have slightly fewer options and flexibility compared to D3.js.
License and Pricing: C3.js and D3.js are open-source libraries released under the MIT license, making them free to use for both personal and commercial projects. Highcharts, on the other hand, is a commercial library that offers a free version for non-commercial use, but requires a paid license for commercial projects.
In Summary, C3.js and Highcharts provide a higher-level, declarative approach for creating charts and graphs with less complexity and effort, while D3.js offers a lower-level, imperative approach that provides more control and flexibility at the cost of a steeper learning curve.
I have used highcharts and it is pretty awesome for my previous project. now as I am about to start my new project I want to use other charting libraries such as recharts, chart js, Nivo, d3 js.... my upcoming project might use react js as front end and laravel as a backend technology. the project would be of hotel management type. please suggest me the best charts to use
I want to get suggestions on these 2 open source js libraries (D3.js & echarts) that help in creating charts or graphs on the UI. Which one will be better for bar graphs. Which is easy to learn and start with? Which provides better features and community support?
My requirements are
1 - Plot data in X-Y axis graph where x-axis will present time till seconds level and Y-Axis will present the data corresponding to that time.
I'm developing angular 8 application, I need to create a dynamic, custom charts based on the data,
Charts options will be configured with a user input form. at any time users can edit and modify the chart options. even I dont know how many charts I have to create everything is dynamic. ( based on the user configuration chart counts will vary ). I need some suggestions on which chart will give these kinds of flexible options.
Highcharts currently supports line, spline, area, areaspline, column, bar, pie, scatter, angular gauges, arearange, areasplinerange, columnrange, bubble, box plot, error bars, funnel, waterfall and polar chart types.
It is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. Emphasises on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework.
c3 is a D3-based reusable chart library that enables deeper integration of charts into web applications.
It works in all modern mobile and desktop browsers including the iPhone/iPad and Internet Explorer from version 6;Free for non-commercial;One of the key features of Highcharts is that under any of the licenses, free or not, you are allowed to download the source code and make your own edits;Pure Javascript - Highcharts is solely based on native browser technologies and doesn't require client side plugins like Flash or Java.
Declarative Approach for Individual Nodes Manipulation;
Functions Factory;
Web Standards;
Built-in ELement Inspector to Debug;
Uses SVG, Canvas, and HTML;
Data-driven approach to DOM Manipulation;
Voronoi Diagrams;
Maps and topo.
Comfortable - C3 makes it easy to generate D3-based charts by wrapping the code required to construct the entire chart. We don't need to write D3 code any more.;Customizable - C3 gives some classes to each element when generating, so you can define a custom style by the class and it's possible to extend the structure directly by D3.;Controllable - C3 provides a variety of APIs and callbacks to access the state of the chart. By using them, you can update the chart even if after it's rendered.
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Pros & Cons
Pros
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Low learning curve and powerful
17
Multiple chart types such as pie, bar, line and others