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Have been looking for an alternative to MatLab...found working on Octave quite difficult...missing the debugging capabilities of MatLab...Came across FreeMat...wanted to know how is FreeMat different from Octave...is it just a graphical frontend to Octave like QtOctave (which I'm yet to explore) or is it more than that? What additional capabilities does it provide? What would be a better use of time - investing in FreeMat or makign do with Octave using tools like QtOctave (matlab not an option)?
In short, both GNU Octave and FreeMat are open-source alternatives to MATLAB. However, Octave is more mature and has wider community support.
I also found this interesting article that compares MATLAB, Octave, FreeMat and SciLab. It does point out a few issues against FreeMat:
It doesn't support some functions (such as kron and pcg).
It has limited 3-D graphics capabilities (e.g. no support for the mesh function).
It is also lacking in the ODE department, for not having a state-of-the-art solver.
Essentially, this article concludes that Octave is indeed the most compatible with MATLAB at present.
Now, if you're searching for a good GUI/IDE, try one of these.
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I've been given Matlab scripts by my teacher for a technical report, I don't know the language yet (haven't had time at all but I'll figure it out ASAP), however it doesn't matter as I only need to run the scripts I've been given and check the plots.
I have no idea why, but everyone told me that both software run almost the same identical language, and yet the scripts I've been given rarely seem to work.
This happened repeatedly with other exams, and I know it has to be something with Octave because all my friends could run the scripts just fine on MATLAB (basically I get errors and I cannot get the plots with some of the scripts).
Now, I've been using GNU/Linux distros for years and would never go back to Windows. I'm fully aware that MATLAB runs on Linux and my University even gives me a license. However, I don't see the point in using a proprietary software like MATLAB when Octave SUPPOSEDLY works the same. I'm no Richard Stallman and I do occasionally run some proprietary software like Nvidia drivers or the Steam Client, etc, but if I can avoid it I'll avoid it.
So the issue is: do I really have to run MATLAB or can I just not figure out what's going on with Octave?
I even installed and loaded the MATLAB equivalent library I'm supposed to use for usual engineering scripts. I think it was the Control System Toolbox.
Any help would be appreciated.
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I found it much better on visualisation but not many people using it. Why isn't mathematica not as popular as matlab or python?
MATLAB and Mathematica are different packages for different user groups. Both software tools have similar freeware versions including Octave (MATLAB), Maxima (Mathematica), and others.
MATLAB has realized its objectives as being a software package for prototyping, idea testing, and simulations. It is more popular with engineers and some scientists. This popularity is based, in part, on marketing to students and instructors, ease of use, and availability.
Mathematica is a difficult and yet powerful tool. It has a set of language options and the usage has been personally frustrating. I was excited about integration with R language, but I have found that integration to be lacking, so far. It is more popular with a few engineers, some scientists, and mathematicians. Mathematica's latest editions have desirable licensing for students and home users. While not free, expense is reasonable.
Both tools have limited use in some industries.
Licensing is much more expensive for industrial partners. Industry continues to tighten its belt. Therefore, if you plan to be in industry, it may be highly beneficial to experience the freeware options, which nowadays includes the packages mentioned above as well as R, Python, and others.
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I can access MatLab on school computers, but it would be more like a convenience factor as of right now. I want to get into programming using raspberry pi later on, but is it worth buying in the meantime? Will it be useful to me as a computer engineer? Thanks.
I have used Matlab as a student and employee for over 10 years now. I have recently taken an interest in Python as a free open-source alternative to Matlab and have been extremely impressed. Matlab is a very powerful and convenient tool, but has a significant cost, especially if toolboxes are needed. Python seems to cover all the same capability needs that I have in Matlab (with toolboxes), and if I ever need help doing something in python that I know how to do in matlab, I just do a quick google search and 9 times out of 10 I end up on this website, taking advantage of the questions that others have already answered.
With your question on Raspberry pi, it can actually run python code on board, but not the case for matlab.
I am not a computer engineer, but am of the opinion that python would likely benefit you more than matlab in the end as it is free, more widely used and can be used on devices such as raspberry pi. For reference, I have degrees in physics and electrical engineering and spend a great deal of time at work building optical sensors, operating them, and processing their data.
One more note: I like the Anaconda distribution of python, highly recommended
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Im looking to figure out how to download libsvm for matlab, I hear it is much quicker than the support vector machine matlab functions already in place?
Please note, the reason I'm answering this is because the documentation is not detailed enough and I had trouble installing LibSVM on OS X on my first try. After much tinkering, this is the best procedure I have come up with so far.
Yes, it is much quicker and more accurate for nonlinear kernels. Performance wasn't significantly difference from my experience for linear kernels. I'm running OS X v10.10.2 Yosemite as well.
Here are the instructions to install LibSVM:
Download the zip from their website and extract it if Safari hasn't already.
Install Xcode so that LibSVM can compile MEX
Restart/open Matlab. You need to open Matlab again for it to detect Xcode.
Use "cd" command to navigate the working directory to "LIBSVM_FOLDER/libsvm-3.20/matlab/". If you type ls, you should see "make.m".
Type "make" to run the "make.m" script.
The .mexmaci64 and .mexw64 files for libsvmread/libsvmwrite/svmtrain/svmpredict will be created. svmtrain/svmpredict are your Matlab functions that you can call from your Matlab console to use libsvm.
For more information, please visit
http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/libsvm/
Caveats/Notes
Use the help command to see the function's help text
You can rename these files to your liking to rename the function name
I renamed and created a wrapper functions around svmtrain/svmpredict called libsvmclassify/libsvmtrain to remain consistent with Matlab nomenclature and input format
Make sure to have these files in your working directory or "addpath" to them
Don't forget to cite their paper when you use LibSVM for research
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I have heard that it is possible to make standalone programs using Matlab compiler.
It is good but I doubt that if someone can use the commands in the tool boxes and make a standalone program out of them otherwise one could make a program using optimization tool box and distribute it, then no body would pay for such a too box. Am I right? Is it possible to use the features available in tool boxes to make a standalone program in Matlab?
There are certain features in toolboxes which are not supported by MATLAB Compiler. These mainly include GUIs provided with the toolboxes, such as imtool, cftool, systemIdentification, pidTuner, etc... and things the Compiler itself, or code-generation tools such as MATLAB Coder. For an exhaustive list, see Support for MATLAB and Toolboxes on the MathWorks web site.
Note that for the end user to run the compiled MATLAB application, he first needs to install the MCR (MATLAB Component Runtime) on his machine. This is essentially a "headless" version of MATLAB which can only be called by the compiled application, and is freely distributable to end users by the person who has a license for MATLAB Compiler.