[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: issue with user preferences (was "problem with column specification
From: |
John W. Eaton |
Subject: |
RE: issue with user preferences (was "problem with column specification in matrices") |
Date: |
Fri, 1 Nov 2002 10:45:41 -0600 |
On 1-Nov-2002, Julian DeMarchi <address@hidden> wrote:
| However, I also realise Octave has several very useful improvements
| over Matlab (even at the most mundane levels -- for instance, take
| the ++ operator). There should be no reason to cut out these
| wonderful features, as optional features.
I have no problem with optional features that don't overlap (at least
not until Matlab introduces something that does cause a conflict).
| Whether or not Octave enhancements run in Matlab could be the
| kind of "competition", if you will, to push the Mathworks to update
| their syntax and feature set down the road.
FWIW, if you look at the latest release notes for Matlab, you will
find
&& and || for short-circuit logical ops
true and false functions
try-catch statements no longer catch Control-C interrupts
C-style format specs in error and warning functions
all of which have been in Octave for some time (though at least one
person wanted Octave to emulate Matlab's previous try-catch behavior
for Control-C interrupts). Other things that I think were in Octave
first (and may still be missing from Matlab) include
structures
C-style I/O
varargs
saved command history
command and filename completion
static variables
DAE solver
Unix system calls
double quotes for strings[1]
(and I'm sure that there are others that I'm forgetting) though when
the MathWorks introduced some of these in Matlab, they chose to be
incompatible with Octave.
jwe
[1] I still fail to understand why Matlab issues an error for this and
tells you to use single quotes instead of just accepting double
quotes too!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.
Octave's home on the web: http://www.octave.org
How to fund new projects: http://www.octave.org/funding.html
Subscription information: http://www.octave.org/archive.html
-------------------------------------------------------------