Validation of Sparkline Computer Code

How can we collect, check, validate, and certify the major computer implementations of sparklines?

Checks and validations should include (1) robust functioning of the code, particularly in the face of wild data or in the face of corrupting interactions with other aspects of computing, (2) closeness of output to the sparkline concept (word-like, high resolution, integrated with text and numbers, contextual labeling, and the availability of “boxing” for each sparkline (as in the euro example in the sparkline chapter, with begin/ end and high/low dots and numbers), (3) ease of use by innocent users trying to implement the code, (4) avoiding malicious codes, and (5) demonstration, by examples, of the output. Maybe we should develop a set of test data that each implementation must handle.

How do we validate the validators? What does Linux do? We’ll need real names of those involved, working email addresses, and possibly even some credentials. We don’t want to get too bureaucratic about this but we need to maintain rigorous standards.

This project gains strength, I hope, from its open-source character: publicly available code, public reviews, many Kindly Contributors. At this board, the result is that we would provide for various sparkline coding schemes a public validation/certification.

This project needs some discussion or at least an example validation/certification. All told, there are probably somewhere between 25 to 50 necessary codings for various products and various languages (LaTex, Word, Excel, Flash, Illustrator, the major statistics packages, scientific data analysis, Microsoft, Apple, Linux and so on). Or is there a way to build this in at the OS level?

What do our Kindly Contributors think? Some discussion is needed before we undertake this useful project, which ultimately should make high-quality sparklines available to everyone regardless of computer system or application. This should accelerate the use of sparklines and also avoid having endless messed-up proprietary codes that fail to maintain the integrity of the sparkline design.

If this works, one could imagine a few other good data designs worthy of the same process.