Re: The fabled "Matlab compatibility"

[Israel Herraiz]

Excerpts from Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso's message of Thu Nov 08 22:58:35 +0100 
2012:
> The --braindead option, aliased to --traditional, doesn't actually
> affect anything I would call "compatibility". It only affects
> superficial things about appearance like what the prompt looks like. I
> consider "Matlab compatbility" to mean "Matlab code should run in
> Octave". Merely this and nothing more. In particular, making the GUI
> look exactly like Matlab is not a goal, especially not now that
> Matlab's GUI got a ribbon.

I was using the same term (compatibility) as the Octave documentation,
or as the output of --help.

> Octave is not meant to be "a Matlab clone", nor is it meant to be
> "Matlab but without the price tag".

Sure. Who said that?

> Your students already know where
> to get Matlab without the price tag. I doubt you will agree with me,
> but I invite to show your students the improvements that Octave has
> over the Matlab language.

I neither agree nor disagree. I teach the MATLAB syntax, which is a
subset of the Octave syntax. But I don't try to hide what Octave is,
and I certainly explain what free software is, what are the advantages
over proprietary software, and why I prefer to use Octave even though
I have a MATLAB license available for my classes (but there are no
licenses for students available).

Precisely because we have to suffer leonine licensing conditions, I
tell them to use Octave and advocate free software. The lack of GUI
was a showstopper for my intentions. So I had a look, saw that GUI was
under development, thought it was not going to be on time for my
classes, and started to develop it myself.

But I also tell them that it's their decision. If they want to buy a
MATLAB license, I certainly don't stop them from doing that. Some of
them actually do buy student licenses. What I try to offer is just
another option (the option I prefer and I use in class).

> If you just show it to them as "Matlab
> clone", they will not value it and will wonder what advantage does
> this have over the Matlab without the price tag that they already
> have, other than some vague abstraction about "nobody is telling me
> that downloading this is illegal or immoral".

Again, who said that? Do you really think I do no try to advocate the
advantages of free software to my students? How do you think I "sell"
the program I customize for them, saying "this is just a free (gratis)
MATLAB", or I rather explain what free software is and say "this is
possible thanks to the work of lots of people who make free software
and share source code"?

My intention with this customization is having a version of Octave
that is able to run all our MATLAB code, and that can be used to
easily substitute MATLAB in courses like mine. Just replace the
software, and don't touch any of the M code you already have. I want
to make the transition as smooth as possible.
 
> And you should ultimately show them the strongest benefits of Octave.
> Sooner or later, most students want to know what is the backslash
> operator doing. Show them, I say.

That's a nice advice. We already try to show them how Octave works,
and how differs from MATLAB. I doubt we will be able to show them the
backslash operator implemented in Octave, but at least they will know
where to look into if they are interested.

Cheers,
Israel