Re: Function calls (Was: Save a plot to .ps)

[Ted Harding]

On 04-Jun-99 David Doolin wrote:
> 
> So you should care.  You should care a lot.  Doesn't mean you 
> have implement *anything* anyone wants.  But it might mean you 
> could be encouraging to people that are taking the time to
> unravel octave's and matlab's behavior.  Instead of being curt.
> 
> John, you may be a helluva coder, but your sales skills are on the 
> level of the average bsd weenie that hangs out in #unix with a
> keyboard alias to +kb.  ;)  
> 
> Anyway good luck.   If my opinion counted, which I know it 
> certainly does not, matlab compatibility should be all or 
> nothing.  Half-assing it hurts more than helps.

Not as black-and-white as it looks. Quite some time ago, in response
to a related discussion, John Eaton wrote to the effect that, since
MatLab itself is a moving target, compatibility-tracking could become
a full-time job in itself and not one which he has a taste for doing.

True enough, Octave once was very closely compatible with the then version
of MatLab. Later, there was divergence on both sides but octave options
made a reasonable approximation to MatLab available. John has clearly
stated in the past that pure MatLab compatibility is not a primary
objective of octave.

I think any development effort which could be diverted to bringing octave
closer to MatLab would be better spent enhancing octave itself.

Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
Date: 05-Jun-99                                       Time: 00:22:23
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