Re: Evaluating octave

[Steve C. Thompson]

--- MS wrote: 
> I am interested in using octave as a (complete) replacement for matlab (this 
> includes writing code that would execute on both Matlab and Octave). Just now 
> as I was trying to code an application, I found that the textscan function is 
> not implemented in octave. Is there a FAQ somewhere which lists standard 
> utilities that are a part of Matlab and not octave ? It would help me 
> immensely in deciding whether to consider using octave any further for my 
> purposes.

--- SCT wrote: 
MS,

Testimonial:

(I appologize in advance for the coming lecture, but I can't resist!)

I've been using GNU Octave for about 1.5 years. Coming from years of
experience in MATLAB, GNU Octave had a very small learning curve.  I
found some differences right away--I think of the page_screen_output
setting.  In my experiences, the differences have been for the better;
generally giving me more control of my data and more control of how I
interact with the program. Also, as I feel this applies generally to
the use of a free system (free as in freedom, not price; aka ``open
source''), using GNU Octave in GNU/Linux encourages learning and
understanding.  The source is available to read which can help with
you own programming style.  Furthermore, a worldwide group of users
participate to the project (see http://octave.sourceforge.net/).

I find address@hidden very good ``customer service''--much better than
trying to get switched through to and engineer at MathWorks during
business hours (since the user base of GNU Octave spans the time zones,
help can come at 3AM and Sunday).

I run lenghthy Monte Carlo simulations and other time consuming tasks.
A huge advantage I've experience with GNU Octave on GNU/Linux v MATLAB
on Windows (or MATLAB on GNU/Linux) is running several instances of the
program in several different terminals (on one computer).  This way I
can quickly get simulations up and running and let the run for a couple
days if need be.  In GNU/Linux, the machine remains chipper (unlike
Microsoft Windows, which tends to become unusable during simulation
runs) and I can keep working on other things.

In terms of the textscan problem, can't you just use fscanf
(http://www.octave.org/doc/octave_17.html#SEC125)?

>From my experience (here I go again) ``problems'' in GNU Octave usually
have workarounds and usually aren't problems at all.

Best regards,
Steve


On Feb 26 00:06AM, Madhusudan Singh wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I am interested in using octave as a (complete) replacement for matlab (this 
> includes writing code that would execute on both Matlab and Octave). Just now 
> as I was trying to code an application, I found that the textscan function is 
> not implemented in octave. Is there a FAQ somewhere which lists standard 
> utilities that are a part of Matlab and not octave ? It would help me 
> immensely in deciding whether to consider using octave any further for my 
> purposes.
> 
> With regards,
> 
> MS
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.
> 
> Octave's home on the web:  http://www.octave.org
> How to fund new projects:  http://www.octave.org/funding.html
> Subscription information:  http://www.octave.org/archive.html
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 

----- End forwarded message -----



-------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Octave's home on the web:  http://www.octave.org
How to fund new projects:  http://www.octave.org/funding.html
Subscription information:  http://www.octave.org/archive.html
-------------------------------------------------------------