Kst (software)

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title: "Kst (software)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-plotting-software", "kde-applications", "free-software-programmed-in-c++", "software-using-the-gnu-general-public-license"] description: "Plotting and data viewing program" topic_path: "general/free-plotting-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kst_(software)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Plotting and data viewing program ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	Kst
logo
screenshot	Kst screenshot.png
caption	Screenshot of Kst
collapsible
author	Barth Netterfield
developer
released
discontinued
ver layout
latest release date
latest preview date
repo
programming language	C++
engine
operating system
language count
genre	Graph plotting software
license	GPL
website
::

| name = Kst | logo = | logo alt = | logo caption = | screenshot = Kst screenshot.png | screenshot size = | screenshot alt = | caption = Screenshot of Kst | collapsible = | author = Barth Netterfield | developer = | released = | discontinued = | ver layout = | latest release version = | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | repo = | programming language = C++ | engine = | operating system = | platform = | included with = | size = | language = | language count = | language footnote = | genre = Graph plotting software | license = GPL | alexa = | website = | standard = | AsOf =

Kst is a plotting and data viewing program. It is a general purpose plotting software program that evolved out of a need to visualize and analyze astronomical data, but has also found subsequent use in the real time display of graphical information. Kst is a KDE application and is freely available for anyone to download and use under the terms of the GPL. It is noted for being able to graph real-time data acquisition.

History

Kst was initially developed by Barth Netterfield, an astrophysicist as a personal project. By 2004 it had begun to be used in various universities and the European Space Agency and development was funded by the Canadian Space Agency. Kst is written in C++ and based upon (but does not use) the Tk toolkit. It is targeted towards large (million element) data sets.

Features

kst is a fast real-time large-dataset plotting and viewing tool with basic data analysis functionality.

Plot types

kst is able to plot histograms and 3-D with color and contour mapping for 3-D images. It is also able to process Network Common Data Form (NETCDF) files for 2-d plotting

Real-time plotting capability

Kst has been chosen where there is a need to present plots in real-time.

Applications

Real-time applications vary in size from simple graphing of a sensor from a microcontroller such as arduino that may be set up by a hobbyist to a simple sensor to plotting of real time date from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The program has been recommended for real time graphical display of an open energy monitoring project.

Inputs

Kst is able to accept a number input formats with Dirfiles being particularly suitable for streaming applications and plug-in extension filters enabling other input stream types and file formats to be added.

Scripting language

The tool offers a scripting language, termed KstScript based upon JavaScript syntax which can help automate workflows.

Alternatives

Some alternatives include MATLAB, Qtiplot, SciDAVis, Grace and LabPlot. However, some of these are part of a numerical analysis package.

Spin-off developments

Dirfile format{{Anchor|A-Dirfile}}

In the process of developing the kst application a spin-off was the emergence of the Dirfile file format standard for time-ordered binary data in an efficient manner. It was developed under the Getdata project into an independent standard with its own API.

References

1. (August 2010). "Linux Journal".
2. (1 August 2008). "Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II". Proceedings of SPIE.
3. (2012). "Distributed Computing and Networking".
4. (2011-01-29). "D1f - Interface Specification".
5. "Interview with Barth Netterfield about kst".
6. "The Kst Handbook".
7. "Kst - Benchmarks".
8. "The Dirfile Standards".
9. "Software for Manipulating or Displaying NetCDF Data".
10. "Learn | OpenEnergyMonitor".
11. "The OpenEnergyMonitor project [LWN.net]".
12. "Canadian LFI Work".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::