<s>
Asymptote	B-Language
is	O
a	O
descriptive	O
vector	O
graphics	O
language	O
—	O
developed	O
by	O
Andy	O
Hammerlindl	O
,	O
John	O
C	O
.	O
Bowman	O
(	O
University	O
of	O
Alberta	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
Tom	O
Prince	O
—	O
which	O
provides	O
a	O
natural	O
coordinate-based	O
framework	O
for	O
technical	B-Application
drawing	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Asymptote	B-Language
runs	O
on	O
all	O
major	O
platforms	O
(	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
available	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Lesser	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
License	I-Application
(	O
LGPL	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Asymptote	B-Language
typesets	O
labels	O
and	O
equations	O
with	O
LaTeX	B-Application
,	O
producing	O
high-quality	O
PostScript	B-Language
,	O
PDF	B-Application
,	O
SVG	B-Application
,	O
or	O
3D	O
PRC	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
inspired	O
by	O
MetaPost	B-Language
,	O
but	O
has	O
a	O
C++	B-Language
-like	O
syntax	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
provides	O
a	O
language	O
for	O
typesetting	O
mathematical	O
figures	O
,	O
just	O
as	O
TeX/LaTeX	O
provides	O
a	O
language	O
for	O
typesetting	O
equations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
rotation	O
of	O
vectors	O
by	O
complex	O
multiplication	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
uses	O
the	O
simplex	B-Algorithm
method	I-Algorithm
and	O
deferred	O
drawing	O
to	O
solve	O
overall	O
size	O
constraint	O
issues	O
between	O
fixed-sized	O
objects	O
(	O
labels	O
and	O
arrowheads	O
)	O
and	O
objects	O
that	O
should	O
scale	O
with	O
figure	O
size	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Asymptote	B-Language
fully	O
generalizes	O
MetaPost	B-Language
path	O
construction	O
algorithms	O
to	O
three	O
dimensions	O
,	O
and	O
compiles	O
commands	O
into	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
code	O
for	O
speed	O
without	O
sacrificing	O
portability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
High-level	O
graphics	O
commands	O
are	O
implemented	O
in	O
the	O
Asymptote	B-Language
language	O
itself	O
,	O
allowing	O
them	O
to	O
be	O
easily	O
tailored	O
to	O
specific	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
appears	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
first	O
software	O
package	O
to	O
lift	O
TeX	B-Application
into	O
three	O
dimensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allows	O
Asymptote	B-Language
to	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
3D	O
vector	O
file	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Asymptote	B-Language
is	O
also	O
notable	O
for	O
having	O
a	O
graphical	O
interface	O
coded	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
(	O
and	O
the	O
Tk	B-Application
widget	O
set	O
)	O
,	O
xasy.py	O
—	O
this	O
allows	O
an	O
inexperienced	O
user	O
to	O
quickly	O
draw	O
up	O
objects	O
and	O
save	O
them	O
as	O
.asy	O
source	O
code	O
which	O
can	O
then	O
be	O
examined	O
or	O
edited	O
by	O
hand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
's	O
syntax	O
was	O
originally	O
described	O
by	O
using	O
a	O
Yacc	B-Application
compatible	O
grammar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
source	O
code	O
allows	O
you	O
to	O
draw	O
a	O
graph	O
of	O
the	O
Heaviside	O
function	O
by	O
means	O
of	O
the	O
Asymptote	B-Language
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
code	O
above	O
yields	O
the	O
following	O
pdf	B-Application
output	O
.	O
</s>
