Coming from the C++ LaNet-vi 3.x

LaNet-vi 5.x is a Python rewrite of the C++ LaNet-vi (3.0.1, the last SourceForge release, plus the -directed and -strengthsIntervalsFile options of the unreleased 4.0.0). Since 5.1.0 the decompositions, the placement and the rendering follow the C++ sources, so a picture made with the same options looks the same up to the random choices (the random generators differ, so the same -seed does not give the same random draws).

What is different by design:

• Rendering. POV-Ray and the C++ SVG writer are replaced by matplotlib: --output decides the format by its extension (PNG, PDF, SVG). There is no -render, -java, -onlygraphic or -nographic; the picture is always produced.
• Flags use the GNU form (--edges-percent, not -edges) and can also come from a YAML file (lanet-vi config, --config), with the C++ precedence: defaults < file < explicit flags.
• Defaults are the C++ ones except where noted below (--edges-percent 0.5, --min-edges 50000, 2400 × 2400 pixels; the C++ drew 0 % of the edges with a floor of 1000, at 800 × 600). The background is black in both (the C++ help text said white, its constructor said black).
• Logs. log/cores.log, log/kconn.log, log/gomory_hu*.log do not exist; --cores-file writes the decomposition (CSV or JSON), --kconn-file the k-connectivity table and --log-file the run log.

Flag translation

C++ 3.x	LaNet-vi 5.x	Notes
-input FILE	--input FILE	.gz / .bz2 are read directly
-output FILE	--output FILE	PNG, PDF or SVG by extension
-decomp kcores\|kdenses	--decomp kcores\|kdenses\|dcores
-directed (4.0)	--directed --decomp dcores	the 4.0.0 driver only wrote dcores_list.txt for a directed graph and drew nothing; --dcore-table FILE writes that table, and the picture is a 5.x addition
-measure mcore\|kdense	--measure mcore\|kdense	k-dense legend numbering
-names FILE	--names FILE	labels are drawn when the file is given (--no-node-labels to keep them off)
-names (no file, or -names 0)	--node-labels	every node labeled with its number
-font Z	--font-zoom Z
-coresfile FILE	--cores-file FILE	the C++ option was dead; the decomposition went to log/cores.log
-colorsFile FILE	--colors-file FILE	same format node r g b
-weighted	--weighted
-multigraph	--multigraph
-strengthsIntervals M	--strength-intervals M	same four methods
-strengthsIntervalsFile FILE (4.0)	--strength-intervals-file FILE
-maximumStrength S	--maximum-strength S
-granularity N	--granularity N	default: maximum degree, as the C++ (no cap at 100)
-fromlayer K	--from-layer K	same semantics; the C++ also dumped the subgraph to temp.txt, use --cores-file for the indices instead
-bckgnd white\|black	--background white\|black	black by default in both
-color col\|bw\|bwi	--color-scheme col\|bw\|bwi
-colorScaleMaxValue K	--color-scale-max K
-showDegreeScale 0\|1	--show-degree-scale / --no-show-degree-scale	plus --show-color-legend for the index legend
-eps E	--epsilon E	0.18
-delta D	--delta D	1.3
-gamma G	--gamma G	1.5
-u U	(YAML visualization.unit_length)	no CLI flag
-coordDistributionAlgorithm classic\|pow\|log	--coord-distribution classic\|pow\|log
-alpha A, -beta B	--alpha A, --beta B	0.3, 1.0
-ratioConstant C	--ratio-constant C	auto-adjusted when absent, as the C++
-seed N	--seed N	also seeds the edge sample
-nocliques	--no-cliques
-drawCircles	--draw-circles
-edges P	--edges-percent P	default 0.5 (C++: 0.0)
-minedges N	--min-edges N	default 50000 (C++: 1000)
-opacity O	--opacity O	0.2
-W PX, -H PX	--width PX, --height PX	any aspect ratio
-window HS HE VS VE	--window HS HE VS VE
-render povray\|svg	—	matplotlib; see --output
-java, -onlygraphic, -nographic, -net	—	not applicable
-logfile, -logstdout	--log-file FILE, --verbose
-kconn, -kconntype strict\|wide	--kconn, --kconn-type strict\|wide	same walk; nodes that are not k-connected are black/white (squares in bw); the invisible "border color" of the C++ SVG is not drawn; --kconn-file replaces log/kconn.log
-connectivity, -innerConnectivity	—	not ported; won't be (#25)

New in 5.x, without a C++ equivalent: --config, --node-size-scale, --node-edge-color, --gradient-edges, --legend-fontsize, --show-color-legend, --node-labels, --detect-communities and the other --community-* flags, lanet-vi info, lanet-vi generate, and the Python API.

What is not there

The Gomory-Hu connectivity report (-connectivity) and the POV-Ray scenes will not be ported (issue #25, closed as won't-fix). The community detection and random graph generators of the Python package are NetworkX-based replacements, not ports of the authors' research code (#26). The spiral layout of the development tree (espiral.cpp) was never part of a C++ release and has no Python counterpart.