Editing Portal:Graphics Programming (section)

=== Charts and data visualization ===

Graphics programming also includes charts and plots. Perl has had many charting and plotting modules over the years. Some generate static images, while newer ones generate browser-based interactive graphics.

`Chart::Clicker` is one example. MetaCPAN describes it as a powerful, extensible charting package that can create attractive output and save charts in PNG, SVG, PDF, and PostScript formats.<ref>MetaCPAN, “Chart::Clicker,” https://metacpan.org/pod/Chart%3A%3AClicker, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

`Chart::Plotly` is a more web-oriented example. MetaCPAN describes it as a module that generates HTML and JavaScript charts from Perl data using the Plotly.js JavaScript library.<ref>MetaCPAN, “Chart::Plotly,” https://metacpan.org/pod/Chart%3A%3APlotly, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

`Chart::GGPlot` is another modern attempt, described as an implementation of ggplot2 in Perl, designed to support multiple plotting backends and shipping with a default backend that uses Chart::Plotly.<ref>MetaCPAN, “Chart::GGPlot,” https://metacpan.org/pod/Chart%3A%3AGGPlot, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

Perl charting is historically important because Perl has often been used to produce reports. A database query or log parser becomes more useful when the result can be turned into a graph. Perl charting modules allowed scripts to create visual summaries for web pages, emails, dashboards, papers, and internal reports.

Charting tasks include:

* time-series plots;
* bar charts;
* scatter plots;
* pie charts;
* dashboards;
* monitoring graphs;
* scientific figures;
* business reports;
* generated HTML reports;
* publication or presentation graphics.