octave, matlab, maxima



Richard Fateman wrote:
>  > 
>   
>> Where does sage come into this discussion?
>>     
>
> I guess they would like to be used instead of Octave, Matlab, Maxima, ... .
>
> I think that the Sage project people have their own ambition to become the
> centerpiece of mathematical computation, and underestimate the difficult of
> reprogramming everything. They seem to be very heavy on abstract mathematics
> and the systems that assist in various "applications" to pure math.  Their
> view of Maxima is somewhat jaded because they insist on using CLISP, even if
> it is slow: they require (for no defensible reason, in my view) that they
> can only use a lisp system that can be compiled by them on every targeted
> machine.  Thus Maxima is relatively slow.
>   

OK. back to Maxima and Octave.
The reasons I set my project aside are:
1) the whole structure and background of Maxima is quite different than 
Octave
     therefore the parsers will by large

2) Normally, for what I use Octave for (control theory and filters in 
Laplace space)  I don't need Maxima.
 
It was fun linking to Maxima and getting a differential and bringing it 
back and plotting it, but
was it useful?

So I think the first question to ask is:
who would use it and what for.

For myself I didn't have a real use for it.

das

Just my 2 cents worth.