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1 @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 John W. Eaton |
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2 @c This is part of the Octave manual. |
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3 @c For copying conditions, see the file gpl.texi. |
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4 |
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5 @node Preface |
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6 @unnumbered Preface |
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7 @cindex contributors |
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8 @cindex history |
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9 |
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10 Octave was originally intended to be companion software for an |
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11 undergraduate-level textbook on chemical reactor design being written by |
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12 James B. Rawlings of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and John |
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13 G. Ekerdt of the University of Texas. |
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14 |
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15 Clearly, Octave is now much more than just another `courseware' package |
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16 with limited utility beyond the classroom. Although our initial goals |
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17 were somewhat vague, we knew that we wanted to create something that |
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18 would enable students to solve realistic problems, and that they could |
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19 use for many things other than chemical reactor design problems. |
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20 |
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21 There are those who would say that we should be teaching the students |
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22 Fortran instead, because that is the computer language of engineering, |
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23 but every time we have tried that, the students have spent far too much |
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24 time trying to figure out why their Fortran code crashes and not enough |
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25 time learning about chemical engineering. With Octave, most students |
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26 pick up the basics quickly, and are using it confidently in just a few |
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27 hours. |
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28 |
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29 Although it was originally intended to be used to teach reactor design, |
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30 it has been used in several other undergraduate and graduate |
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31 courses in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of |
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32 Texas, and the math department at the University of Texas has been using |
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33 it for teaching differential equations and linear algebra as well. If |
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34 you find it useful, please let us know. We are always interested to |
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35 find out how Octave is being used in other places. |
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36 |
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37 Virtually everyone thinks that the name Octave has something to do with |
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38 music, but it is actually the name of a former professor of mine who |
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39 wrote a famous textbook on chemical reaction engineering, and who was |
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40 also well known for his ability to do quick `back of the envelope' |
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41 calculations. We hope that this software will make it possible for many |
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42 people to do more ambitious computations just as easily. |
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43 |
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44 Everyone is encouraged to share this software with others under the |
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45 terms of the GNU General Public License (@pxref{Copying}) as described |
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46 at the beginning of this manual. You are also encouraged to help make |
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47 Octave more useful by writing and contributing additional functions for |
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48 it, and by reporting any problems you may have. |
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49 |
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50 @menu |
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51 * Acknowledgements:: |
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52 * How You Can Contribute to Octave:: |
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53 * Distribution:: |
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54 @end menu |
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55 |
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56 @node Acknowledgements |
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57 @unnumberedsec Acknowledgements |
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58 @cindex acknowledgements |
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59 |
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60 Many people have already contributed to Octave's development. The |
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61 following people have helped write parts of Octave or helped out in |
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62 various other ways (listed alphbetically). |
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63 |
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64 @include contributors.texi |
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65 |
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66 Special thanks to the following people and organizations for |
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67 supporting the development of Octave: |
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68 |
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69 @itemize @bullet |
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70 @item |
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71 The National Science Foundation, through grant numbers CTS-0105360, |
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72 CTS-9708497, CTS-9311420, and CTS-8957123. |
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73 |
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74 @item |
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75 The industrial members of the Texas-Wisconsin Modeling and Control |
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76 Consortium (@uref{http://www.che.utexas.edu/twmcc, TWMCC}). |
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77 |
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78 @item |
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79 The Paul A. Elfers Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering at the |
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80 University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
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81 |
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82 @item |
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83 Digital Equipment Corporation, for an equipment grant as part of their |
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84 External Research Program. |
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85 |
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86 @item |
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87 Sun Microsystems, Inc., for an Academic Equipment grant. |
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88 |
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89 @item |
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90 International Business Machines, Inc., for providing equipment as part |
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91 of a grant to the University of Texas College of Engineering. |
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92 |
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93 @item |
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94 Texaco Chemical Company, for providing funding to continue the |
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95 development of this software. |
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96 |
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97 @item |
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98 The University of Texas College of Engineering, for providing a |
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99 Challenge for Excellence Research Supplement, and for providing an |
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100 Academic Development Funds grant. |
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101 |
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102 @item |
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103 The State of Texas, for providing funding through the Texas |
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104 Advanced Technology Program under Grant No. 003658-078. |
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105 |
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106 @item |
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107 Noel Bell, Senior Engineer, Texaco Chemical Company, Austin Texas. |
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108 |
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109 @item |
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110 John A. Turner, Group Leader, Continuum Dynamics (CCS-2), Los Alamos |
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111 National Laboratory, for registering the @url{octave.org} domain name. |
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112 |
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113 @item |
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114 James B. Rawlings, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, |
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115 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. |
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116 |
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117 @item |
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118 Richard Stallman, for writing GNU. |
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119 @end itemize |
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120 |
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121 This project would not have been possible without the GNU software used |
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122 in and used to produce Octave. |
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123 |
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124 @node How You Can Contribute to Octave |
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125 @unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute to Octave |
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126 @cindex contributing to Octave |
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127 @cindex funding Octave development |
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128 |
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129 There are a number of ways that you can contribute to help make Octave a |
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130 better system. Perhaps the most important way to contribute is to write |
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131 high-quality code for solving new problems, and to make your code freely |
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132 available for others to use. |
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133 |
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134 If you find Octave useful, consider providing additional funding to |
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135 continue its development. Even a modest amount of additional funding |
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136 could make a significant difference in the amount of time that is |
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137 available for development and support. |
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138 |
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139 If you cannot provide funding or contribute code, you can still help |
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140 make Octave better and more reliable by reporting any bugs you find and |
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141 by offering suggestions for ways to improve Octave. @xref{Trouble}, for |
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142 tips on how to write useful bug reports. |
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143 |
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144 @node Distribution |
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145 @unnumberedsec Distribution |
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146 @cindex distribution of Octave |
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147 |
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148 Octave is @dfn{free} software. This means that everyone is free to |
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149 use it and free to redistribute it on certain conditions. Octave is not |
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150 in the public domain. It is copyrighted and there are restrictions on |
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151 its distribution, but the restrictions are designed to ensure that |
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152 others will have the same freedom to use and redistribute Octave that |
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153 you have. The precise conditions can be found in the GNU General Public |
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154 License that comes with Octave and that also appears in @ref{Copying}. |
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155 |
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156 Octave is available on CD-ROM with various collections of other free |
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157 software, and from the Free Software Foundation. Ordering a copy of |
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158 Octave from the Free Software Foundation helps to fund the development |
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159 of more free software. For more information, write to |
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160 |
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161 @quotation |
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162 Free Software Foundation@* |
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163 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor@* |
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164 Boston, MA 02110-1301--1307@* |
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165 USA |
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166 @end quotation |
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167 |
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168 Octave is also available on the Internet from |
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169 @url{ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave}, and additional information is |
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170 available from @url{http://www.octave.org}. |
