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I am aware of various latex packages (e.g., XYPic) that facilitate the creation of commutative diagrams in the context of latex documents. What I would like to ask though is whether there exists a stand-alone tool that creates these diagrams? An optimal tool would not require a huge number of libraries and supporting infrastructure that must be installed separately. Just a simple tool that creates commutative diagrams and, say, exports them to PNG/WMF etc. Does something like this exist?

To be clear, I am looking for special-purpose software that is dedicated to depicting commutative diagrams of the sort that one encounters in category theory, homological algebra, algebraic toplogy and so forth. I am not seeking a general-purpose chart drawing tool such as Visio, Powerpoint or other typical consumer-oriented application. It should be capable of correctly formatting and rendering math-specific symbols and character sets.

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    As I said, to turn this into a reasonable question you need to *explain what you want* in more detail. For example: why doesn't MS Paint not do it for you? As it stands, it is just a call for a list of graphing software. I am sure there is a Wikipedia page for that... and it *is* off-topic.2011-11-14

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Dia can do this. The results won't be as good as with LaTeX + TikZ though. There are online LaTeX compilers that allow you to compile code including TikZ pictures. This way you can have the quality of LaTeX+TikZ without needing all of the tooling installed. If you concern is learning the language instead of output and you would prefer something with a GUI frontend then Dia is the only option I am familiar with (except for Visio and PowerPoint)

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    OK, I've looked a little bit at this and it seems pretty useful; it's not exactly what I have in mind but could work in a pinch. If nobody suggests anything closer I'll accept your answer.2011-11-14