[middleclick]

So can anyone discuss the benefits of doing something like this in Tex versus using a program like say Inkscape and using EPS? [Serious]

[maxerickson]

Some of it is undoubtedly yak shaving, where it is more fun to write the drawing code than to click the mouse hundreds of times.

A real advantage is that a prototype will be a 'living figure', where changing a couple of values can completely shift the figure (which enables cheap experimenting with how different parameters look or whatever).

[Bill_Dimm]

If you have any text labels in the diagram, the font will be consistent with the rest of the text.