Re: Implementation of importdata belonging to Octave Core or Octave-Forge?

[Juan Pablo Carbajal]

On Sat, Oct 20, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Philip Nienhuis
<address@hidden> wrote:
> Erik Kjellson wrote
>> On 19 October 2012 15:54, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso &lt;
>
>> jordigh@
>
>> &gt;wrote:
>>
>>> On 19 October 2012 09:37, Juan Pablo Carbajal &lt;
>
>> ajuanpi+dev@
>
>> &gt;
>>> wrote:
>>> > On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Erik Kjellson
>>> > &lt;
>
>> address@hidden
>
>> &gt; wrote:
>>> >> Hello,
>>> >>
>>> >> I have written an implementation of the Matlab function 'importdata'.
>>> I'm
>>> >> getting a bit confused about the borderline between Octave Core and
>>> >> Octave-Forge, so I don't know where it belongs...
>>> >>
>>> >> My implementation covers most of the functionality in the Matlab
>>> version,
>>> >> but not all. For example, I haven't implemented the automatic
>>> detection
>>> of
>>> >> the column separator. Also, for some special cases (like if you in the
>>> data
>>> >> section of the file would have some letters among numeric data) you
>>> still
>>> >> get a slightly different output.
>>> >>
>>> >> The 'importdata' is, as far as I know, a part of Matlab Core rather
>>> than a
>>> >> toolbox.
>>> >> Does the implementation have to be complete to be able to have it in
>>> Octave
>>> >> Core?
>>> >>
>>> >> Or is it better to add it to the Octave-Forge project for now?
>>> >>
>>> >> regards,
>>> >> Erik
>>> >
>>> > Hi Erik,
>>> >
>>> > Cool!
>>> >
>>> > I would say that if compatibility is not complete then better to keep
>>> > it in Forge.
>>>
>>> Nah, we have tons of incomplete compatibility functions in core. One
>>> more will do no harm. It should go in core.
>>>
>>> > also, you should upload your function seomwhere so we can
>>> > see the coding style, Octave core is very strict in this.
>>>
>>> This is a minor thing. I can adapt its style as necessary.
>>>
>>> - Jordi G. H.
>>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Now I have uploaded my implementation here:
>> https://sourceforge.net/p/octave/feature-requests/41/
>>
>> I've noticed that a lot of function files have some kind of tests in the
>> end of the file. I guess that you use them to check that you haven't
>> introduced any logic error in the code when modifying it?
>> I did find this page: http://wiki.octave.org/Tests
>> But I guess I need to fake input from a fake file in some way, is there
>> anywhere I can read more on how to do that?
>
> While perusing importdata.m in the log, I saw that it includes an error
> message for WK1 and other spreadsheet file formats.
>
> While there is no WK1 support in core Octave (nor for any other spreadsheet
> format, for that matter) there is in the Octave-Forge io package. Using that
> and e.g. LibreOffice one can read a plethora of file formats, not just
> .wk1/.xls/.xlsx, but also .sxc/.ods/.fods/.uods/.dbf/.html/.csv/.pxl/....
> etc.
>
> Just like in e.g. usejava.m a while ago, we stumble upon core Octave
> functions yielding messages that ignore possibly present functionality in
> installed (and loaded) octave-forge packages.
>
> So, would it be a good idea to amend importdata.m to first check for
> additional file format reading capabilities outside core Octave and only
> when installed Octave-Forge packages don't have it, issue a message like:
>
>   "importdata: install and load io package and dependencies for file format
> " <EXTENSION>
> ?
>
> FYI, in this case the check for additional file format capability is easily
> accomplished using a try...catch around a call to chk_spreadsheet_support.m
> (from the io package); that function's output indicates what file formats
> are supported in the io pkg.
>
> So what's the opinion of other devs here as to:
>
> 1. error messages about lacking functions in core that might be present in
> installed octave-forge packages?
>
> 2. (before I start coding) amending importdata's capabilities?
>
> Philip
>
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: 
> http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/Implementation-of-importdata-belonging-to-Octave-Core-or-Octave-Forge-tp4645486p4645527.html
> Sent from the Octave - Maintainers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

If you ask me, I think that including importdata in core so directly
wasn't really good. As I see it one of the roles of Octave Forge is to
provide a time for testing and eventually merge it into core.

Is it possible to add the mentioned functionality in the io package in
core? In that way we re-activate the OctaveForge --> core flow (and we
make a better Octave!)

Also, if there is a desired to add more functions to core the first
place to look is to globaly used, well tested packages in Forge! :D

Cheers