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A few suggestions: - The front page needs some short code samples and their output. Also, maybe showcase some libraries or projects the Octave community has cr

by walrus 11y ago

A few suggestions: - The front page needs some short code samples and their output. Also, maybe showcase some libraries or projects the Octave community has created. - Make 'Documentation' a top-level menu entry. - Provide some 'Getting Started' documentation. I know there's a section in the manual for that, but I don't dive into the manual when I'm just trying to get a feel for what something is. - The download page should have distro-specific installation instructions (e.g., apt-get install octave, pacman -S octave). For Windows, link directly to the exe. For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Other than that I think it's fine. The design on the navigation menu looks a little dated, but it's not a big deal.

jordigh 11y ago
> For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Heh, as soon as we can find someone who can create one...
- stergios 11y ago
  How about "brew install octave" .
  - jordigh 11y ago
    Slow, error-prone, obscure. Remember that Octave is used by people who regularly call themselves "not a programmer".
opk 11y ago
Isn't it really rather pointless to show distro-specific installation instructions. Someone who can program in scheme or octave really doesn't need help on using apt-get. There's many options if you want to cover a good range of distributions. Someone that clueless will probably not realise the commands need running as root, either. It only makes sense for Windows and OS X.
- Retra 11y ago
  Someone who is learning scheme or octave may not know these things. This may be their first time installing something like this.
- walrus 11y ago
  I disagree. As someone who knows how to use my system's package manager, it saves me from having to figure out the name of the package and whether or not I need to enable a 3rd party repository. Also, I know at least two people who use Octave that aren't comfortable with their system's package manager. Both of them use Ubuntu for their research because it's easier to get compilers (Fortran and C++) working properly, but they use Windows for general (non-research) computing. One of them is a biophysics graduate student and the other is a chemistry undergraduate.

by walrus 11y ago

jordigh 11y ago

> For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Heh, as soon as we can find someone who can create one...

stergios 11y ago
How about "brew install octave" .
- jordigh 11y ago
  Slow, error-prone, obscure. Remember that Octave is used by people who regularly call themselves "not a programmer".

opk 11y ago

Isn't it really rather pointless to show distro-specific installation instructions. Someone who can program in scheme or octave really doesn't need help on using apt-get. There's many options if you want to cover a good range of distributions. Someone that clueless will probably not realise the commands need running as root, either. It only makes sense for Windows and OS X.

Retra 11y ago
Someone who is learning scheme or octave may not know these things. This may be their first time installing something like this.
walrus 11y ago
I disagree. As someone who knows how to use my system's package manager, it saves me from having to figure out the name of the package and whether or not I need to enable a 3rd party repository. Also, I know at least two people who use Octave that aren't comfortable with their system's package manager. Both of them use Ubuntu for their research because it's easier to get compilers (Fortran and C++) working properly, but they use Windows for general (non-research) computing. One of them is a biophysics graduate student and the other is a chemistry undergraduate.