Re: A beginenr wishing to get involved

[Mike Miller]

On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 04:24:26 +0800, Ben Ph wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am starting Uni - Comp Sci.

Hi Ben, welcome!

> My first units include a math one which has a MATLAB base to it. The
> lecturer is saying "You can use Octave, but i don't generally recommend it,
> because it's finicky to install and <other reasons>"

It is actually quite easy to install and use on GNU/Linux systems.

> I would love to see Octave get to a point where lecturers are recommending
> these two software packages on a near equal standing, and getting involved
> in some real code while we are at it.

Sounds good to me too.

> I don't have any grasp of C++. I know a small amount of C and Python. Aside
> form getting a handle on C++ (on my to do list) is there anything else I
> can do to get my hands dirty?

Much of Octave is made up of m-files. If you want to get involved with
Octave without knowing much C++, you might start by studying from and
helping to improve the m-files that are part of Octave's core runtime.

-- 
mike