Re: Octave on Reddit

[Jaroslav Hajek]

2010/9/29 Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso <address@hidden>:
> It seems a popular news site has picked up Octave's homepage:
>
>     
> http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/dk61b/free_alternative_to_matlab_check_octave_out/
>
> A few months ago, something similar happened:
>
>     
> http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/c3pqb/ever_wished_you_had_a_matlab_license_octave_is/
>
> It's really sad to read the comments, though. Many suggest to use
> other things instead of Octave, and many others say that Octave is
> irreparably inferior as compared to Matlab.

I've only read the first one, but it's not that bad. NumPy/SciPy are
becoming popular, but I suspect those people saying that it has an
"almost identical syntax" to Matlab have never really used Matlab.
Anyone who used both knows that the syntax is *way* different compared
to Octave; and not just the syntax, but the semantics as well (COW vs.
implicit pointers).

Yes, plotting is slow and not as nice as Matlab's, but it's about the
best that can be squeezed out of Gnuplot. Regarding computing
functions, someone only mentioned contourc, but I wonder exactly how
much slower it is. Etc.

As a summary, there's nothing new, we know all that. It seems to be a
rule on the web that negative comments are always in broad supply,
regarding almost anything even if many people like it. In Czech, we
have a proverb saying that "An empty pot thuds the loudest." ;-)

regards

-- 
RNDr. Jaroslav Hajek, PhD
computing expert & GNU Octave developer
Aeronautical Research and Test Institute (VZLU)
Prague, Czech Republic
url: www.highegg.matfyz.cz