Learn Canvas, Clojure and D3

D3, or Data Driven Documents, is the defacto standard for data visualization on the web. It's an incredibly powerful library that gives you all the tools you need to build just about visualization you can dream of.

D3 is not a collection of predefined charts. Instead, it's a robust set of utilities you can use to ingest and transform data, to map that data to screen values, and ultimately to manipulate the DOM to render your visuals.

When working with React, D3's desire to manipulate the DOM is at odds with React's goal of rendering the UI as a function of state. So how do we handle this? Simply put, we use D3 for everything up to the point where we want to render our output, and then we hand all that data to React for rendering.

In this course, we'll start from scratch and build out an SVG bar chart for some sample data. We'll lean on D3 for its tools and then hand that data off to React for rendering.

React is one of the web’s most popular frameworks for building JavaScript applications. 

If you know what you’re doing, React can drastically simplify how you build, use, and maintain code.

Whether you’re a React newbie or you’re ready for advanced techniques, you can level-up with egghead. Explore our in-depth courses, lessons, and community resources to build more powerful applications and crack open your career.

react

Create A Bar Chart with React and D3

In this course we will learn and demonstrate the fundamental concepts and APIs of D3, on our way to building several common chart types. We’ll start with the building blocks upon which all D3 visualizations are built; things like scales, interpolators, and selections. We’ll see how to load data with D3, and how to put its full name, Data Driven Documents, into action. We’ll build column and bar charts, scatter plots, and area charts. Most importantly, we’ll gain an understanding of the conventions and patterns that underlie all D3 projects and examples, enabling you to dissect, understand, and build virtually any D3 visualization on the internet.

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation.

Build Interactive JavaScript Charts with D3 v4

This course covers D3 v3. If you'd like to learn about v4 of D3 (the latest version) [click here for the course on that](https://egghead.io/courses/build-interactive-javascript-charts-with-d3-v4).

This series will gently guide you through the first steps in getting to know D3. The curve can be steep, but with a few simple tools, you'll be charting your buns off in no time flat.

Use D3 (v3) to Build Interactive Charts with JavaScript

Most of D3’s native selection APIs also return the selection (or a new selection), to enable multiple method calls to be chained together. Since the code you write isn’t on the selection prototype, chaining your methods would take some extra work. `selection.call()` will call any function reference you give it, providing the selection as the first parameter, and then it returns the selection for you to ensure chaining is supported.

Better Code Organization with selection.call() with D3 v4

Making SVGs responsive is unfortunately not as simple as adding some media queries. This lesson introduces the `viewBox` attribute, which is used to control how SVGs scale. We’ll also examine a reusable function that can be used to make nearly any visualization responsive.

Make D3 v4 Charts Responsive with the viewBox attribute

A <canvas> element provides scripts with a resolution-dependent bitmap canvas, which can be used for rendering graphs, game graphics, or other visual images on the fly.

canvas

Learn some of the different ways you can affect the graphical content that you are drawing to a canvas. We'll cover global alpha, global composite operations and shadows.

Canvas Effects

In D3, the General Update Pattern is the name given to what happens when a data join is followed by operations on the enter, update, and exit selections. When a chart's data changes over time and each update can both create new elements and destroy existing ones, the General Update pattern can help convey meaning to users. This lesson demonstrates the pattern using animated transitions on a column chart.

Animate with the General Update Pattern in D3 v4

With the HTML `canvas` you can easily draw text as well as graphics. Let's take a look at basic text manipulation on the canvas.

Drawing Text on Canvas

Ensuring your charts are responsive is essential if you want them to work regardless of the user's device and screen size. In this lesson we'll learn how the viewBox attribute of SVG elements works, and apply that knowledge to make a future-proof D3 chart.

Responsive D3 charts with the viewBox attribute

Since D3 outputs standard markup, you can use familiar dev tools and inspectors to debug your visualizations. In this lesson we’ll look at how to use Chrome Dev Tools to examine the data associated with your generated markup and experiment with styles to speed up the development process.

Debug D3 v4 with Dev Tools

D3 makes it easy to add meaningful animations to your data visualizations. Whether it’s fading in new items or tweening existing shapes to display new values, adding transitions is easy. This lesson shows you how to add animations while building on your existing knowledge of D3 selections.

Animate Transitions in D3 v4

Create a line chart, then easily convert it to an area chart

Line and Area Charts with D3

Mapping abstract values to visual representations is what data visualization is all about, and that’s exactly what D3 scales do. This is usually done using pretty straightforward algorithms, but nothing is straightforward when you’re working with Date objects in JavaScript. If you’re plotting temporal data, you need to use a time scale.

Convert Dates to Numeric Values with Time Scales in D3 v4

Sometimes data needs to be converted from a continuous range, like test scores, to a discrete set of output values, like letter grades. In this lesson we’ll see how to use `d3.scaleQuantize()` to do exactly that.

Create Labels from Numeric Data with Quantize Scales in D3 v4

AngularJS is an open-source JavaScript framework, maintained by Google, that assists with running single-page applications. Its goal is to augment web-based applications with model–view–controller (MVC) capability, in an effort to make both development and testing easier.

angularjs

Integrating D3 with Angular can be very simple. In this lesson, you will learn basic integration as well as how to create D3 charts that can be packaged as AngularJS directives.

Create a D3 Chart as an Angular Directive

As of version 4, D3 is a completely modular tool, composed of many small libraries. You can use them independently or as a whole, and even create custom builds that include only the parts you need. This lesson will review the options available for installing and using D3, and will set up a local environment for rapid experimentation.

Install and Configure D3 v4

In this lesson, we cover several different ways to animate graphics drawn to Canvas.

Animating with Canvas

When your data contains discrete, non-numeric property values that you need to format or convert before displaying, `d3.scaleOrdinal()` is the API you need. Maybe you need to convert a “pass”/”fail” field to “green”/”red” for coloring your bubble chart? This lesson shows you exactly what to do.

Create Labels from Non-numeric Data with Ordinal Scales in D3 v4

Mapping abstract values to visual representations is what data visualization is all about, and that’s exactly what D3 scales do. Turning a test score into a column height, or a percentage into an opacity requires translating from one set of possible values to another, and linear scales perform a direct, proportional conversion of inputs to outputs. In this lesson we’ll learn the basic API of D3 scales and how to use them.

Convert Input Data to Output Values with Linear Scales in D3 v4

You probably use a framework or standalone library to load data into your apps, but what if that’s overkill for your needs? What if you’re just putting together a quick demo? This lesson demonstrates D3’s APIs for loading data on its own, as well as some helpful methods for inspecting your data and preparing it for use with D3.

Load and Inspect Data with D3 v4

Once you can get hold of DOM elements you’re ready to start changing them. Whether it’s changing colors, labels, or even link destinations, this lesson demonstrates the process and patterns for updating the DOM using D3’s powerful APIs.

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