Mike Miller-4 wrote
Personally, I think the main motivation for Octave to support Matlab's
syntax at all is to allow users to move their interpreted source code
(in m-file form) from Matlab to the better, free Octave environment,
thereby increasing the "value" of the code.
IMHO, supporting obfuscated Matlab executable files does little to
increase the value of the code.
I think another large class of users are those who are required to write
Matlab code for work / university, and choose to do the development in
Octave, typically because of its licence. That is certainly the class I
fall into.
If p-files are /callable/ from standard .m files, then this class of users
would certainly benefit from being able to call .p files under Octave, if
they are required to use them in Matlab for their work or study. Having
said that, I've never had a need to run .p files anywhere.
Would it be worth having a questionnaire when Octave is installed, asking
users to tell us why they choose to use Octave? That would eliminate a lot
of this guesswork.
$0.02,
Lachlan