Emacs mode for Matlab vs Emacs mode for Octave

[Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso]

A long time ago, before I weaned myself from Matlab, I used this elisp
file for Matlab mode:

    http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/~kas/software/emacs/

I remember enjoying it quite a bit. It's under the GPL, but it looks
like the Octave mode for Emacs uses none of the Matlab mode code. In
fact, I find the Octave mode rather unfeatureful (and as we all know,
we Emacs users highly value features). In addition, I've run across
the occasional bug with Emacs' Octave mode (and if I can reproduce
them again, I'll report them).

Debian's package for Octave mode suggests that jwe was (is?) the
original maintainer. My questions are, is the relative austerity of
the Octave mode as compared to Matlab mode intentional? I don't know a
thing about elisp, but would it be easy to incorporate some of the
Matlab mode features into Octave mode? I have visions of a grand goal
of having an Octave script debugger inside Emacs, but it would take me
quite a while to learn the skills I would need to write such a thing,
if it's even possible.

Thanks,
- Jordi G. H.