Re: Emacs mode for Matlab vs Emacs mode for Octave

[Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso]

Hi. Please keep the discussion inside the Octave mailing list so other
list subscribers can participate (reply all from within Gmail, not
simply reply).

On 03/05/07, Alessandro Brezzi <address@hidden> wrote:
> 2007/5/3, Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso <address@hidden>:

> > I have visions of a grand goal of having an Octave script debugger
> > inside Emacs, but it would take me quite a while to learn the
> > skills I would need to write such a thing, if it's even possible.
>
> I've opened a simple octave script and the OCTAVE mode was

Unlike the other leading brand, Octave isn't an acronym for anything,
so there's no need to shout its name. ;-) "Octave" instead of "OCTAVE"
will do nicely.

> activated, with an OCTAVE menu.  In the menu I've found a Debug
> sub-menu, which I suppose can be usefull for you, as it is for me.

Yes, but even this debug menu is rather limited to sending code blocks
or lines to Octave. A real debugger would need conditional
breakpoints, the ability to step through loops, be able to display
data structures as they are being modified, and the like. I'm not even
sure it's possible to do all these tasks from Emacs without further
cooperation from the Octave interpreter.

An Octave debugger has been in the wishlist for a long time:

    http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/projects.html

Anyways, this is just a side request. I got a private response from
the current Matlab mode maintainer who seems to think that the current
Matlab mode is already usable enough for Octave (recognises
"endfunction" and other Octave extensions). I'll try it out; maybe
I'll be using that instead of Octave mode.

Cheers,
- Jordi G. H.