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The problem with Octave seems to be that, even if you put in the time to dig, you eventually hit some insurmountable roadblock because there’s no library that d

The problem with Octave seems to be that, even if you put in the time to dig, you eventually hit some insurmountable roadblock because there’s no library that does what you need, IMHO.

DrNosferatu 4y ago
A great way to counter this would be a series of online tutorials showing how to do common and popular tasks, projects & applications with Octave’s existing libraries. Surely people versed with it (or the developers) would be able to show how to work around its limitations vs. Matlab toolboxes’ über-completeness. Call Python libraries if you must from within Octave. But show how to accomplish a popular application from beginning to the very end.
- DrNosferatu 4y ago
  …or is it that Matlab’s strength, more than the actual language, are in fact the plentiful proprietary toolboxes?
  - sbrorson 4y ago
    This is a very good point, and is likely one of Matlab's pillars of strength. As an open-source guy I find it painful to say it, but the fact that the Mathworks is a commercial organization means they have lots of revenues which they use to hire people to implement new features. They have loads of very smart engineers building new toolboxes and other new features all the time since they have a money fountain (revenues) to fund it. The toolboxes are important to paying customers with advanced requirements, and they are willing to pay for them. It's a virtuous circle. Octave has some volunteer hackers who poke at the code base for fun. I recall that about ten years ago development of Octave had a crisis -- the primary developer John Eaton lost his funding from the University of Wisconson. Many people who followed Octave feared the project would die. Fortunately, that did not happen, and I am not sure how the whole kerfluffle worked itself out. However, it illuminates the shaky foundations of the volunteer-project software development model (Octave) compared to having a cash fountain from real revenues (Matlab). The cash fountain means you can fund development of features desired by your users.
    - DrNosferatu 4y ago
      Ironic that the recent degradation of relations between the West and Russia & China might be a boost for Octave. Take it easy, down voters: just pointing out a fact.

The problem with Octave seems to be that, even if you put in the time to dig, you eventually hit some insurmountable roadblock because there’s no library that does what you need, IMHO.

DrNosferatu 4y ago

A great way to counter this would be a series of online tutorials showing how to do common and popular tasks, projects & applications with Octave’s existing libraries. Surely people versed with it (or the developers) would be able to show how to work around its limitations vs. Matlab toolboxes’ über-completeness. Call Python libraries if you must from within Octave. But show how to accomplish a popular application from beginning to the very end.

DrNosferatu 4y ago
…or is it that Matlab’s strength, more than the actual language, are in fact the plentiful proprietary toolboxes?
- sbrorson 4y ago
  This is a very good point, and is likely one of Matlab's pillars of strength. As an open-source guy I find it painful to say it, but the fact that the Mathworks is a commercial organization means they have lots of revenues which they use to hire people to implement new features. They have loads of very smart engineers building new toolboxes and other new features all the time since they have a money fountain (revenues) to fund it. The toolboxes are important to paying customers with advanced requirements, and they are willing to pay for them. It's a virtuous circle. Octave has some volunteer hackers who poke at the code base for fun. I recall that about ten years ago development of Octave had a crisis -- the primary developer John Eaton lost his funding from the University of Wisconson. Many people who followed Octave feared the project would die. Fortunately, that did not happen, and I am not sure how the whole kerfluffle worked itself out. However, it illuminates the shaky foundations of the volunteer-project software development model (Octave) compared to having a cash fountain from real revenues (Matlab). The cash fountain means you can fund development of features desired by your users.
  - DrNosferatu 4y ago
    Ironic that the recent degradation of relations between the West and Russia & China might be a boost for Octave. Take it easy, down voters: just pointing out a fact.