Re: Matlab references in docs; distinguishing between ML and Octave

[Richard Crozier]

On 24/03/2013 20:01, Ben Abbott wrote:
> On Mar 24, 2013, at 3:46 PM, Philip Nienhuis wrote:
>
> > bpabbott wrote
> > > On Mar 24, 2013, at 2:54 PM, Philip Nienhuis wrote:
> > >
> > > > While perusing the Octave documentation about Java I noted several
> > > > references
> > > > to Matlab; one in particular about "how to distinguish between Octave and
> > > > Matlab".
> > > >
> > > > 1. Is there a policy about mentioning ML in the Octave docs?
> > > > IMO it should be minimized to "only when unavoidable"; but because of
> > > > Octave's aim for ML compatibility, references to Matlab are all over the
> > > > place.
> > > >
> > > > 2. What would be a good place in the doc for a description of how to
> > > > distinguish between ML and Octave? The Java section is too narrow-scoped.
> > > > Dropping this info entirely or referring to the wiki seems a bit
> > > > inappropriate to me. I'd find it a bit double-hearted to aim to be
> > > > ML-compatible while mentioning nowhere how to differentiate between the
> > > > two
> > > > in scripts and m-file functions.
> > > >
> > > > 3. A way to distinguish Octave and ML, that works in both, could be to
> > > > use
> > > > the "computer" function; I saw that ML and Octave return different
> > > > answers
> > > > for the first output arg ('win32' and "i686-pc-mingw32", resp.; when
> > > > called
> > > > with 'arch': 'win32' and "mingw32-i686", resp.).
> > > > I don't know what answers Matlab and Octave give on OSX, nor what ML
> > > > would
> > > > answer on Linux.
> > > >
> > > > Philip
> > > I think the easiest way to distinguish is to use the "ver" command.
> > >
> > > "x = ver ()" returns a structure array with fields "Name", "Version",
> > > "Release", and "Date".  For Octave x(1).Name equals "Octave", and for
> > > Matlab x(1).Name equals "Matlab".
> > Good hint.
> >
> > In Octave ver() gives a fairly big struct array, depending on installed
> > packages. (In ML having many toolboxes is at least financially discouraged).
> > The call to ver() does take a bit of time:
> To exclude the toolboxes, pass the name of the product ...
>
> a = ver ('matlab')
>
> a =
>
>         Name: 'MATLAB'
>      Version: '8.0'
>      Release: '(R2012b)'
>         Date: '20-Jul-2012'
>
> a = ver ('Octave')
> a =
>
>    scalar structure containing the fields:
>
>      Name = Octave
>      Version = 3.7.2+
>      Release = [](0x0)
>      Date = [](0x0)
>
> There's no need to check both ...
>
>         if (isempty (ver ('Octave'))
>                 % Running Matlab
>         else
>                 % Running Octave
>         end
>
> Ben

here is how I determine if I am in octave or matlab:

function t = isoctave()
% ISOCTAVE.M
% ISOCTAVE  True if the operating environment is octave.
%    Usage: t=isoctave();
%
%    Returns 1 if the operating environment is octave, otherwise
%    0 (Matlab)
%
% ---------------------------------------------------------------
%
% COPYRIGHT : (c) NUHAG, Dept.Math., University of Vienna, AUSTRIA
%             http://nuhag.eu/
%             Permission is granted to modify and re-distribute this
%             code in any manner as long as this notice is preserved.
%             All standard disclaimers apply.

    if exist('OCTAVE_VERSION')
        % Only Octave has this variable.
        t=1;
    else
        t=0;
    end

end

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