Re: Vector Projection .m file

[Pascal Dupuis]

I understand your frustation, but this code is for now very important to you. It will become important to Octave coders and users IF it is used by a lot of persons. Before that the ratio cost/benefit will be on the wrong side. Octave is not funded as similar tools like SciLab; maintainers try to get things done on their spare time because nobody is paid to perform the developments.

In a case like yours, the standard procedure is to create some package on Octave-forge, make it grow, add functions, and so on. If it becomes popular, it may at some point in the future be incorporated into Octave core functions.

Regards

Pascal

2013/6/13 Erickson, David <address@hidden>

Hello;

Thanks for the feedback.  I offered it based on the licence agreement, not based on relative value. Rules are rules.

As for your argument about the diminshed nature of certain mathematical functions, I agree. I can almost hear your smug pompousness. Why not get rid of acosh and atanh as well?  Given the fact no one uses those either....

Here are the facts: it's well written, well documented and small. Bigger functions are built on smaller ones no matter how superior or inferior you personally believe it's worth. Maybe you should read Eric Scott Raymond?   If you don't want it, fine, I won't waste my time offering to help it's not my job.

I'll interpret this as Octave is disinterested in code offered up that improves the base despite the licence terms. So I won't worry about putting more useful functions into good order.

Thanks,

Dave

D.R. Erickson
Defence Research and Development Canada Suffield | Recherche et développement pour la défense Canada Suffield
Medicine Hat, AB, Canada T1A 8K6
address@hidden
Telephone |Téléphone 403-544-4048 / Facsimile | Télécopieur 403-544-4701
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

________________________________________
From: address@hidden [address@hidden] on behalf of Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso [address@hidden]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 8:25 AM
To: Erickson, David
Cc: address@hidden; Ahsan Shahid
Subject: Re: Vector Projection .m file

On 12 June 2013 16:11, Erickson, David <address@hidden> wrote:
> Here is a vector projection .m file to compute the projection of x
> onto y.

Thanks. I don't mean to diminish the impact of your contribution, but
it is a fairly uncomplicated function, with no direct counterpart in
Matlab. The problem I see is that this doesn't add a whole lot of
value to Octave but raises our maintenance cost.

     Thus spake the master programmer,

          "Though a program be but three lines long, someday it will
          have to be maintained."[1]

I do not want to be perceived as a cynical ogre, however. If someone
else truly values this contribution, we can incorporate it. Ideally,
this would go into our Agora website where minor user contributions
can go, but Agora isn't quite ready for this yet.[2]

> As it is derivative of your source code, it is returned to you under
> GPL 3.

I kind of want to incorporate this into our source code just so that
we may add The Queen of Canada to our list of contributors. :-)

- Jordi G. H.

[1] http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html#book5
[2] We have a GSoC student this summer helping us with it, hello
    Ahsan!.