external file questions

[John C. Campbell]

I want to do some fancy stuff from a m-file (oc-file?).  I want to
read some data from a direct access file and store it in variables in
an octave session.  So I need to know...

1.  Can I open and read a direct access file from within octave?

2.  Can I call a shell script or C++ program from within octave.

3.  Would it be easier to include some octave source code that will
read the data file?

An additional possibility would be to process this massive
thermochemical data file into single component files that can be read
as octave scripts.  This would probably take up more disk space.  I am
interested in the best way to do this, but I am not sure that I am on
the right track.  Comments?

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John C. Campbell                    :  
address@hidden                  :  
University of Texas-Austin          :   
Dept. of Chemical Engineering       :