|
2339
|
1 <!doctype html public "-//IETF//DTD HTML Strict//EN"> |
|
|
2 <html> |
|
|
3 <head> |
|
|
4 <title> Octave -- a high-level language for numerical computations </title> |
|
|
5 </head> |
|
|
6 |
|
2591
|
7 <h1>A Brief Introduction to Octave</h1> |
|
2339
|
8 |
|
2591
|
9 <ul> |
|
|
10 <li><a href="readme.html#Overview">Overview</a></li> |
|
|
11 <li><a href="readme.html#Language Features">Language Features</a></li> |
|
|
12 <li><a href="readme.html#Distribution Terms">Distribution Terms</a></li> |
|
|
13 <li><a href="readme.html#Availability">Availability</a></li> |
|
|
14 <li><a href="readme.html#Installation and Bugs">Installation and Bugs</a></li> |
|
|
15 <li><a href="readme.html#Documentation">Documentation</a></li> |
|
|
16 </ul> |
|
|
17 <hr> |
|
|
18 |
|
|
19 <h2><a name="Overview">Overview</a></h2> |
|
2339
|
20 <p> |
|
|
21 Octave is a high-level language, primarily intended for numerical |
|
|
22 computations. It provides a convenient command line interface for |
|
2591
|
23 solving linear and nonlinear problems numerically, and for performing |
|
|
24 other numerical experiments. It may also be used as a batch-oriented |
|
|
25 language. |
|
2339
|
26 </p> |
|
|
27 |
|
2591
|
28 <h2><a name="Language Features">Language Features</a></h2> |
|
|
29 |
|
|
30 <h2><a name="Distribution Terms">Distribution Terms</a></h2> |
|
2339
|
31 <p> |
|
|
32 Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
|
2591
|
33 under the terms of the |
|
|
34 <a href="http://www.che.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/info2www?(octave)Copying">GNU |
|
|
35 General Public License</a> as published by the Free Software |
|
|
36 Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. |
|
2339
|
37 </p> |
|
|
38 |
|
|
39 <p> |
|
|
40 Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT |
|
|
41 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or |
|
|
42 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the file COPYING for more |
|
|
43 details. |
|
|
44 </p> |
|
|
45 |
|
2591
|
46 <h2><a name="Availability">Availability</a></h2> |
|
2339
|
47 <p> |
|
|
48 The latest released version of Octave is always available via |
|
2591
|
49 anonymous ftp from |
|
|
50 <a href="ftp://ftp.che.wisc.edu/pub/octave">ftp://ftp.che.wisc.edu/pub/octave</a>. |
|
|
51 Complete source and binaries for several popular systems are available. |
|
2339
|
52 </p> |
|
|
53 |
|
2591
|
54 <h2><a name="Installation and Bugs">Installation and Bugs</a></h2> |
|
2339
|
55 <p> |
|
2591
|
56 Octave requires approximately 125MB of disk storage to unpack and |
|
|
57 compile from source (significantly less if you don't compile with |
|
|
58 debugging symbols or create shared libraries). Once installed, Octave |
|
|
59 requires approximately 65MB of disk space (again, considerably less if |
|
|
60 you don't build shared libraries or the binaries and libraries do not |
|
|
61 include debugging symbols). |
|
2339
|
62 </p> |
|
|
63 |
|
2591
|
64 <p> |
|
|
65 In order to build Octave, you will need a current version of g++, |
|
|
66 libg++, and GNU make. Recommended versions are g++ 2.7.2 or 2.7.2.1, |
|
|
67 libg++ 2.7.1 or 2.7.2, and make 3.75. |
|
|
68 </p> |
|
|
69 |
|
|
70 <p> |
|
|
71 <b>You must have GNU Make to compile Octave</b>. Octave's Makefiles |
|
|
72 use features of GNU Make that are not present in other versions of |
|
|
73 make. GNU Make is very portable and easy to install. |
|
|
74 </p> |
|
2339
|
75 |
|
|
76 <p> |
|
|
77 See the notes in the files INSTALL and INSTALL.OCTAVE for more |
|
|
78 specific installation instructions, including directions for |
|
|
79 installing Octave from a binary distribution. |
|
|
80 </p> |
|
|
81 |
|
|
82 <p> |
|
|
83 The file BUGS contains a recommended procedure for reporting bugs, as |
|
2591
|
84 well as a list of known problems and possible fixes. |
|
2339
|
85 </p> |
|
|
86 |
|
2591
|
87 <h2><a name="Documentation">Documentation</a></h2> |
|
|
88 |
|
2339
|
89 <p> |
|
2591
|
90 Octave's manual has been revised for version 2.0, but it is lagging a |
|
|
91 bit behind the development of the software. In particular, there is |
|
|
92 currently no complete documentation of the C++ class libraries or the |
|
|
93 support for dynamic linking and user-defined data types. If you |
|
|
94 notice ommissions or inconsistencies, please report them as bugs to |
|
|
95 bug-octave@bevo.che.wisc.edu. Specific suggestions for ways to |
|
|
96 improve Octave and its documentation are always welcome. |
|
2339
|
97 </p> |
|
|
98 |
|
2591
|
99 <h2><a name="Implemenation">Implemenation</a></h2> |
|
2339
|
100 <p> |
|
|
101 Octave is being developed with the Free Software Foundation's make, |
|
|
102 bison (a replacement for YACC), flex (a replacement for lex), gcc/g++, |
|
|
103 and libg++ on a SPARCstation II and a DECstation 5000/240. It should |
|
|
104 be possible to install it on any machine that runs GCC/G++. It may |
|
|
105 also be possible to install it using other implementations of these |
|
|
106 tools, but it will most certainly require much more work. Do yourself |
|
|
107 a favor and get the GNU development tools, either via anonymous ftp |
|
|
108 from prep.ai.mit.edu or by writing the Free Software Foundation, 675 |
|
|
109 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. |
|
|
110 </p> |
|
|
111 |
|
|
112 <p> |
|
|
113 The underlying numerical solvers are currently standard Fortran ones |
|
|
114 like Lapack, Linpack, Odepack, the Blas, etc., packaged in a library |
|
|
115 of C++ classes (see the files in the libcruft and liboctave |
|
|
116 subdirectories). If possible, the Fortran subroutines are compiled |
|
|
117 with the system's Fortran compiler, and called directly from the C++ |
|
|
118 functions. If that's not possible, they are translated with f2c and |
|
|
119 compiled with a C compiler. Better performance is usually achieved if |
|
|
120 the intermediate translation to C is avoided. |
|
|
121 </p> |
|
|
122 |
|
|
123 <p> |
|
|
124 The library of C++ classes may also be useful by itself. |
|
|
125 </p> |
|
|
126 |
|
2591
|
127 <hr> |
|
|
128 <p> |
|
|
129 Back to the |
|
|
130 <a href="http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave.html">Octave home page</a>. |
|
|
131 </p> |
|
|
132 <hr> |
|
2339
|
133 <p> |
|
|
134 <a href="http://www.che.wisc.edu/~jwe">John W. Eaton</a><br> |
|
|
135 <a href="mailto:jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu"><i>jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu</i></a><br> |
|
|
136 University of Wisconsin<br> |
|
|
137 Department of Chemical Engineering<br> |
|
|
138 Madison WI 53719 |
|
2591
|
139 </p> |
|
2339
|
140 </body> |
|
|
141 </html> |
