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1 Summary of changes for version 2.0.6: |
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2 ------------------------------------ |
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3 |
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4 This is primarily a bug-fixing release. There are only a few new |
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5 user-visible features. |
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6 |
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7 * The new built-in variable default_eval_print_flag controls whether |
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8 Octave prints the results of commands executed by eval() that do |
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9 not end with semicolons. The default is 1. |
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10 |
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11 * The new built-in constant OCTAVE_HOME specifies the top-level |
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12 directory where Octave is installed. |
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13 |
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14 * Octave no longer includes functions to work with NPSOL or QPSOL, |
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15 because they are not free software. |
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16 |
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17 Summary of changes since version 2.0.5: |
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18 -------------------------------------- |
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19 |
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20 * Octave's expression parser is more general and consistent. It is |
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21 now possible to access structure elements and index arbitrary |
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22 values. For example, expressions like |
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23 |
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24 my_home_dir = getpwuid (getuid ()) . dir; |
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25 |
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26 and |
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27 |
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28 svd (x) (1:5) |
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29 |
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30 now work. |
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31 |
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32 * New built-in variable `print_rhs_assign_val' controls what is |
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33 printed when an assignment expression is evaluated. If it is |
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34 zero, the value of the variable on the left hand side (after the |
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35 assignment) is printed. If it is nonzero, the value of the right |
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36 hand side (i.e., the result of the expression) is printed. The |
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37 default value of is zero, so the behavior is the same as in |
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38 previous versions of Octave. |
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39 |
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40 * tmpnam now takes two optional arguments, DIR, and PREFIX. For |
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41 example, tmpnam ("/foo", "bar-") returns a file name like |
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42 "/foo/bar-10773baa". If DIR is omitted or empty, the value of the |
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43 environment variable TMPDIR, or /tmp is used. If PREFIX is |
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44 omitted, "oct-" is used. |
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45 |
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46 * The built-in variable `PWD' has been removed. If you need to get |
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47 the value of the current working directory, use the pwd() function |
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48 instead. |
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49 |
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50 * New operators. Octave's parser now recognizes the following |
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51 operators: << >> += -= *= /= .+= .-= .*= ./= &= |= <<= >>=. So |
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52 far, there are only a few operations defined that actually use |
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53 them (this should change before 2.1 is released). |
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54 |
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55 * New built-in data types: |
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56 |
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57 logical: |
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58 |
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59 A true value is represented by 1, and false value by 0. |
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60 Comparison operations like <, <=, ==, >, >=, and != now return |
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61 logical values. Indexing operations that use zero-one style |
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62 indexing must now use logical values. You can use the new |
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63 function logical() to convert a numeric value to a logical |
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64 value. This avoids the need for the built-in variable |
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65 `prefer_zero_one_indexing', so it has been removed. Logical |
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66 values are automatically converted to numeric values where |
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67 appropriate. |
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68 |
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69 file: |
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70 |
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71 A file object represents an open Octave stream object. The |
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72 fopen function now returns a file object instead of an integer. |
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73 File objects can be converted to integers automatically, and the |
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74 other functions that work with file ids still work with |
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75 integers, so this change should be backward compatible. |
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76 |
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77 The binary left-shift operator `<<' has been defined to work as |
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78 in C++ for file objects and built-in types. For example, |
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79 |
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80 my_stream = fopen ("foo", "w"); |
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81 my_stream << "x = " << pi << " marks the spot\n"; |
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82 |
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83 writes `x = 3.1416 marks the spot' in the file foo. |
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84 |
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85 The built-in variables stdin, stdout, and stderr are now also |
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86 file objects instead of integers. |
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87 |
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88 list: |
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89 |
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90 A list is an array of Octave objects. It can be indexed using |
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91 the normal indexing operator. For example, |
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92 |
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93 x = list ([1,2;3,4], 1, "foo"); |
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94 stdout << x(2) << "\n" |
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95 1 |
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96 stdout << x; |
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97 ( |
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98 [1] = |
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99 |
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100 1 2 |
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101 3 4 |
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102 |
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103 [2] = 1 |
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104 [3] = foo |
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105 ) |
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106 |
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107 There is currently no special syntax for creating lists; you |
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108 must use the list function. |
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109 |
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110 * Commas in global statements are no longer special. They are now |
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111 treated as command separators. This removes a conflict in the |
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112 grammar and is consistent with the way Matlab behaves. The |
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113 variable `warn_comma_in_global_decl' has been eliminated. |
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114 |
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115 * It is now possible to declare static variables that retain their |
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116 values across function calls. For example, |
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117 |
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118 function ncall = f () static n = 0; ncall = ++n; endfunction |
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119 |
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120 defines a function that returns the number of times that it has |
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121 been called. |
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122 |
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123 * Within user-defined functions, the new automatic variable `argn' |
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124 contains the names of the arguments that were passed to the |
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125 function. For example, |
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126 |
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127 function f (...) |
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128 for i = 1:nargin |
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129 stdout << "argn(" << i << ") = `" << deblank (argn(i,:)) \ |
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130 << "' and its value is " << va_arg () << "\n"; |
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131 endfor |
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132 endfunction |
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133 f (1+2, "foo", sin (pi/2)) |
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134 |
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135 prints |
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136 |
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137 argn(1) = `1 + 2' and its value is 3 |
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138 argn(2) = `"foo"' and its value is foo |
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139 argn(3) = `sin (pi)' and its value is 1 |
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140 |
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141 on the standard output stream. If nargin is zero, argn is not defined. |
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142 * Functions like quad, fsolve, and lsode can take either a function |
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143 name or a simple function body as a string. For example, |
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144 |
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145 quad ("sqrt (x)", 0, 1) |
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146 |
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147 is equivalent to |
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148 |
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149 function y = f (x) y = sqrt (x); endfunction |
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150 quad ("f", 0, 1) |
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151 |
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2815
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152 * If the argument to eig() is symmetric, Octave uses the specialized |
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153 Lapack subroutine for symmetric matrices for a significant |
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154 increase in performance. |
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155 |
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2851
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156 * If the argument to lsode that names the user-supplied function is |
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157 a 2-element string array, the second element is taken as the name |
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158 of the Jacobian function. The named function should have the |
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159 following form: |
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160 |
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161 JAC = f (X, T) |
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162 |
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163 where JAC is the Jacobian matrix of partial derivatives of the |
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164 right-hand-side functions that define the set of differential |
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165 equations with respect to the state vector X. |
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166 |
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2930
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167 * Structure elements completion on the command line actually works |
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168 now. |
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169 |
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170 * New configure option, --enable-readline. |
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171 |
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172 Summary of changes for version 2.0.5: |
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173 ------------------------------------ |
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174 |
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2767
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175 * A `switch' statement is now available. See the Statements chapter |
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176 in the manual for details. |
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177 |
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178 * Commands like ls, save, and cd may now also be used as formal |
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179 parameters for functions. |
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180 |
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181 * More tests. |
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182 |
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183 Summary of changes for version 2.0.4: |
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184 ------------------------------------ |
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185 |
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186 * It is now possible to use commands like ls, save, and cd as simple |
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187 variable names. They still cannot be used as formal parameters |
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188 for functions, or as the names of structure variables. Failed |
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189 assignments leave them undefined (you can recover the orginal |
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190 function definition using clear). |
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191 |
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192 * Is is now possible to invoke commands like ls, save, and cd as |
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193 normal functions (for example, load ("foo", "x", "y", "z")). |
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194 |
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195 Summary of changes for version 2.0.3: |
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196 ------------------------------------ |
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197 |
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198 * The manual has been completely revised and now corresponds much |
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199 more closely to the features of the current version. |
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200 |
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201 * The return value for assignment expressions is now the RHS since |
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202 that is more consistent with the way other programming languages |
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203 work. However, Octave still prints the entire LHS value so that |
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204 |
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205 x = zeros (1, 2); |
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206 x(2) = 1 |
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207 |
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208 still prints |
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209 |
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210 x = |
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211 |
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212 0 1 |
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213 |
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214 but an assignment like |
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215 |
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216 z = x(2) = 1 |
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217 |
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218 sets z to 1 (not [ 0, 1 ] as in previous versions of Octave). |
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219 |
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220 * It is now much easier to make binary distributions. See the |
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221 Binary Distributions section of the manual for more details. |
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222 |
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223 Summary of changes for version 2.0.2: |
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224 ------------------------------------ |
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225 |
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226 * Octave now stops executing commands from a script file if an error |
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227 is encountered. |
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228 |
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229 * The return, and break commands now cause Octave to quit executing |
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230 commands from script files. When used in invalid contexts, the |
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231 break, continue, and return commands are now simply ignored |
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232 instead of producing parse errors. |
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233 |
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234 * size ("") is now [0, 0]. |
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235 |
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2634
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236 * New functions: |
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237 |
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238 sleep -- pause execution for a specified number of seconds |
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239 usleep -- pause execution for a specified number of microseconds |
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240 |
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241 Summary of changes for version 2.0: |
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242 ---------------------------------- |
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243 |
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244 * The set and show commands for setting and displaying gnuplot |
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245 parameters have been replaced by gset and gshow. This change will |
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246 probably break lots of things, but it is necessary to allow for |
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247 compatibility with the Matlab graphics and GUI commands in a |
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248 future version of Octave. (For now, the old set and show commands |
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249 do work, but they print an annoying warning message to try to get |
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250 people to switch to using gset.) |
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251 |
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252 * Octave has been mostly ported to Windows NT and Windows 95 using |
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253 the beta 17 release of the Cygnus GNU-WIN32 tools. Not everything |
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254 works, but it is usable. See the file README.WINDOWS for more |
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255 information. |
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256 |
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2580
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257 * Dynamic linking works on more systems using dlopen() and friends |
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258 (most modern Unix systems) or shl_load() and friends (HP/UX |
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259 systems). A simple example is provided in examples/hello.cc. |
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260 For this feature to work, you must configure Octave with |
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261 --enable-shared. You may also need to have a shared-library |
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262 version of libg++ and libstdc++. |
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263 |
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264 * New data types can be added to Octave by writing a C++ class. On |
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265 systems that support dynamic linking, new data types can be added |
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266 to an already running Octave binary. A simple example appears in |
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267 the file examples/make_int.cc. Other examples are the standard |
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268 Octave data types defined in the files src/ov*.{h,cc} and |
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269 src/op-*.cc. |
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270 |
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271 * The configure option --enable-bounds-check turns on bounds |
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272 checking on element references for Octave's internal array and |
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273 matrix classes. It's enabled by default. To disable this |
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274 feature, configure Octave with --disable-bounds-check. |
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275 |
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276 * The C-style I/O functions (fopen, fprintf, etc.) have been |
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277 rewritten to be more compatible with Matlab. The fputs function |
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278 has also been added. Usage of the *printf functions that was |
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279 allowed in previous versions of Octave should still work. |
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280 However, there is no way to make the new versions of the *scanf |
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281 functions compatible with Matlab *and* previous versions of |
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282 Octave. An optional argument to the *scanf functions is now |
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283 available to make them behave in a way that is compatible with |
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284 previous versions of Octave. |
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285 |
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286 * Octave can now read files that contain columns of numbers only, |
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287 with no header information. The name of the loaded variable is |
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288 constructed from the file name. Each line in the file must have |
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289 the same number of elements. |
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290 |
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291 * The interface to the pager has changed. The new built-in variable |
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292 `page_output_immediately' controls when Octave sends output to the |
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293 pager. If it is nonzero, Octave sends output to the pager as soon |
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294 as it is available. Otherwise, Octave buffers its output and |
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295 waits until just before the prompt is printed to flush it to the |
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296 pager. |
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297 |
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298 * Expressions of the form |
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299 |
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300 A(i,j) = x |
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301 |
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302 where X is a scalar and the indices i and j define a matrix of |
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303 elements now work as you would expect rather than giving an error. |
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304 I am told that this is how Matlab 5.0 will behave when it is |
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305 released. |
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306 |
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307 * Indexing of character strings now works. |
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308 |
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309 * The echo command has been implemented. |
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310 |
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311 * The document command is now a regular function. |
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312 |
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313 * New method for handling errors: |
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314 |
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315 try |
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316 BODY |
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317 catch |
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318 CLEANUP |
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319 end_try_catch |
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320 |
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321 Where BODY and CLEANUP are both optional and may contain any |
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322 Octave expressions or commands. The statements in CLEANUP are |
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323 only executed if an error occurs in BODY. |
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324 |
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325 No warnings or error messages are printed while BODY is |
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326 executing. If an error does occur during the execution of BODY, |
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327 CLEANUP can access the text of the message that would have been |
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328 printed in the builtin constant __error_text__. This is the same |
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329 as eval (TRY, CATCH) (which may now also use __error_text__) but |
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330 it is more efficient since the commands do not need to be parsed |
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331 each time the TRY and CATCH statements are evaluated. |
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332 |
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333 * Octave no longer parses the help command by grabbing everything |
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334 after the keyword `help' until a newline character is read. To |
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335 get help for `;' or `,', now, you need to use the command |
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336 `help semicolon' or `help comma'. |
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337 |
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338 * Octave's parser now does some simple constant folding. This means |
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339 that expressions like 3*i are now evaluated only once, when a |
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340 function is compiled, and the right hand side of expressions like |
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341 a = [1,2;3,4] are treated as true matrix constants rather than |
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342 lists of elements which must be evaluated each time they are |
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343 needed. |
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344 |
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345 * Built-in variables that can take values of "true" and "false" can |
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346 now also be set to any nonzero scalar value to indicate "true", |
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347 and 0 to indicate "false". |
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348 |
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349 * New built-in variables `history_file', `history_size', and |
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350 `saving_history'. |
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351 |
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352 * New built-in variable `string_fill_char' specifies the character |
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353 to fill with when creating arrays of strings. |
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354 |
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355 * If the new built-in variable `gnuplot_has_frames' is nonzero, |
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356 Octave assumes that your copy of gnuplot includes support for |
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357 multiple plot windows when using X11. |
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358 |
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359 If the new built-in variable `gnuplot_has_multiplot' is nonzero, |
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360 Octave assumes that your copy of gnuplot has the multiplot support |
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361 that is included in recent 3.6beta releases. |
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362 |
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363 The initial values of these variables are determined by configure, |
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364 but can be changed in your startup script or at the command line |
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365 in case configure got it wrong, or if you upgrade your gnuplot |
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366 installation. |
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367 |
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368 * The new plot function `figure' allows multiple plot windows when |
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369 using newer versions of gnuplot with X11. |
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370 |
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371 * Octave now notices when the plotter has exited unexpectedly. |
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372 |
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373 * New built-in variable `warn_missing_semicolon'. If nonzero, Octave |
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374 will warn when statements in function definitions don't end in |
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375 semicolons. The default value is 0. |
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376 |
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377 * Octave now attempts to continue after floating point exceptions |
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378 or out-of-memory errors. |
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379 |
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380 * If Octave crashes, it now attempts to save all user-defined |
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381 variables in a file named `octave-core' in the current directory |
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382 before exiting. |
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383 |
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384 * It is now possible to get the values of individual option settings |
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385 for the dassl, fsolve, lsode, npsol, qpsol, and quad functions |
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386 using commands like |
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387 |
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388 dassl_reltol = dassl_options ("relative tolerance"); |
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389 |
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390 * The svd() function no longer computes the left and right singular |
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391 matrices unnecessarily. This can significantly improve |
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392 performance for large matrices if you are just looking for the |
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393 singular values. |
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394 |
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395 * The filter() function is now a built-in function. |
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396 |
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397 * New function randn() returns a pseudo-random number from a normal |
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398 distribution. The rand() and randn() functions have separate |
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399 seeds and generators. |
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400 |
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401 * Octave's command-line arguments are now available in the built-in |
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402 variable `argv'. The program name is also available in the |
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403 variables `program_invocation_name' and `program_name'. If |
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404 executing a script from the command line (e.g., octave foo.m) or |
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405 using the `#! /bin/octave' hack, the program name is set to the |
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406 name of the script. |
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407 |
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408 * New built-in variable `completion_append_char' used as the |
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409 character to append to successful command-line completion |
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410 attempts. The default is " " (a single space). |
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411 |
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412 * Octave now uses a modified copy of the readline library from |
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413 version 1.14.5 of GNU bash. |
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414 |
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415 * In prompt strings, `\H' expands to the whole host name. |
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416 |
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417 * New built-in variable `beep_on_error'. If nonzero, Octave will try |
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418 to ring your terminal's bell before printing an error message. |
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419 The default value is 0. |
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420 |
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2554
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421 * For functions defined from files, the type command now prints the |
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422 text of the file. You can still get the text reconstructed from |
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423 the parse tree by using the new option -t (-transformed). |
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424 |
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2452
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425 * New command-line argument --traditional sets the following |
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426 preference variables for compatibility with Matlab: |
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427 |
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428 PS1 = ">> " |
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429 PS2 = "" |
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430 beep_on_error = 1 |
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431 default_save_format = "mat-binary" |
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432 define_all_return_values = 1 |
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433 do_fortran_indexing = 1 |
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434 empty_list_elements_ok = 1 |
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435 implicit_str_to_num_ok = 1 |
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436 ok_to_lose_imaginary_part = 1 |
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437 page_screen_output = 0 |
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438 prefer_column_vectors = 0 |
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439 prefer_zero_one_indexing = 1 |
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440 print_empty_dimensions = 0 |
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441 treat_neg_dim_as_zero = 1 |
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|
442 warn_function_name_clash = 0 |
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|
443 whitespace_in_literal_matrix = "traditional" |
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|
444 |
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|
445 * New functions: |
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|
446 |
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|
447 readdir -- returns names of files in directory as array of strings |
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|
448 mkdir -- create a directory |
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|
449 rmdir -- remove a directory |
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|
450 rename -- rename a file |
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|
451 unlink -- delete a file |
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|
452 umask -- set permission mask for file creation |
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|
453 stat -- get information about a file |
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|
454 lstat -- get information about a symbolic link |
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2496
|
455 glob -- perform filename globbing |
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|
456 fnmatch -- match strings with filename globbing patterns |
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2452
|
457 more -- turn the pager on or off |
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|
458 gammaln -- alias for lgamma |
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|
459 |
|
|
460 * New audio functions from Andreas Weingessel |
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|
461 <Andreas.Weingessel@ci.tuwien.ac.at>. |
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|
462 |
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2458
|
463 lin2mu -- linear to mu-law encoding |
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|
464 loadaudio -- load an audio file to a vector |
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|
465 mu2lin -- mu-law to linear encoding |
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|
466 playaudio -- play an audio file |
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|
467 record -- record sound and store in vector |
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|
468 saveaudio -- save a vector as an audio file |
|
|
469 setaudio -- executes mixer shell command |
|
2452
|
470 |
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|
471 * New plotting functions from Vinayak Dutt. Ones dealing with |
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|
472 multiple plots on one page require features from gnuplot 3.6beta |
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|
473 (or later). |
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474 |
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|
475 bottom_title -- put title at the bottom of the plot |
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|
476 mplot -- multiplot version of plot |
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|
477 multiplot -- switch multiple-plot mode on or off |
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478 oneplot -- return to one plot per page |
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479 plot_border -- put a border around plots |
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480 subplot -- position multiple plots on a single page |
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|
481 subwindow -- set subwindow position for next plot |
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|
482 top_title -- put title at the top of the plot |
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|
483 zlabel -- put a label on the z-axis |
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|
484 |
|
|
485 * New string functions |
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|
486 |
|
|
487 bin2dec -- convert a string of ones and zeros to an integer |
|
|
488 blanks -- create a string of blanks |
|
|
489 deblank -- delete trailing blanks |
|
|
490 dec2bin -- convert an integer to a string of ones and zeros |
|
|
491 dec2hex -- convert an integer to a hexadecimal string |
|
|
492 findstr -- locate occurrences of one string in another |
|
|
493 hex2dec -- convert a hexadecimal string to an integer |
|
|
494 index -- return position of first occurrence a string in another |
|
|
495 rindex -- return position of last occurrence a string in another |
|
|
496 split -- divide one string into pieces separated by another |
|
|
497 str2mat -- create a string matrix from a list of strings |
|
|
498 strrep -- replace substrings in a string |
|
|
499 substr -- extract a substring |
|
|
500 |
|
|
501 The following functions return a matrix of ones and zeros. |
|
|
502 Elements that are nonzero indicate that the condition was true for |
|
|
503 the corresponding character in the string array. |
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|
504 |
|
|
505 isalnum -- letter or a digit |
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|
506 isalpha -- letter |
|
|
507 isascii -- ascii |
|
|
508 iscntrl -- control character |
|
|
509 isdigit -- digit |
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|
510 isgraph -- printable (but not space character) |
|
|
511 islower -- lower case |
|
|
512 isprint -- printable (including space character) |
|
|
513 ispunct -- punctuation |
|
|
514 isspace -- whitespace |
|
|
515 isupper -- upper case |
|
|
516 isxdigit -- hexadecimal digit |
|
|
517 |
|
|
518 These functions return new strings. |
|
|
519 |
|
2458
|
520 tolower -- convert to lower case |
|
|
521 toupper -- convert to upper case |
|
2452
|
522 |
|
|
523 * New function, fgetl. Both fgetl and fgets accept an optional |
|
|
524 second argument that specifies a maximum number of characters to |
|
|
525 read, and the function fgets is now compatible with Matlab. |
|
|
526 |
|
|
527 * Printing in hexadecimal format now works (format hex). It is also |
|
|
528 possible to print the internal bit representation of a value |
|
|
529 (format bit). Note that these formats are only implemented for |
|
|
530 numeric values. |
|
|
531 |
|
|
532 * Additional structure features: |
|
|
533 |
|
|
534 -- Name completion now works for structures. |
|
|
535 |
|
|
536 -- Values and names of structure elements are now printed by |
|
|
537 default. The new built-in variable `struct_levels_to_print' |
|
|
538 controls the depth of nested structures to print. The default |
|
|
539 value is 2. |
|
|
540 |
|
|
541 -- New functions: |
|
|
542 |
|
|
543 struct_contains (S, NAME) -- returns 1 if S is a structure with |
|
|
544 element NAME; otherwise returns 0. |
|
|
545 |
|
|
546 struct_elements (S) -- returns the names of all elements |
|
|
547 of structure S in an array of strings. |
|
|
548 |
|
|
549 * New io/subprocess functions: |
|
|
550 |
|
2458
|
551 fputs -- write a string to a file with no formatting |
|
|
552 popen2 -- start a subprocess with 2-way communication |
|
|
553 mkfifo -- create a FIFO special file |
|
|
554 popen -- open a pipe to a subprocess |
|
|
555 pclose -- close a pipe from a subprocess |
|
|
556 waitpid -- check the status of or wait for subprocesses |
|
2452
|
557 |
|
|
558 * New time functions: |
|
|
559 |
|
2458
|
560 asctime -- format time structure according to local format |
|
|
561 ctime -- equivalent to `asctime (localtime (TMSTRUCT))' |
|
|
562 gmtime -- return time structure corresponding to UTC |
|
|
563 localtime -- return time structure corresponding to local time zone |
|
|
564 strftime -- print given time structure using specified format |
|
|
565 time -- return current time |
|
2452
|
566 |
|
|
567 The `clock' and `date' functions are now implemented in M-files |
|
|
568 using these basic functions. |
|
|
569 |
|
|
570 * Access to additional Unix system calls: |
|
|
571 |
|
|
572 dup2 -- duplicate a file descriptor |
|
|
573 exec -- replace current process with a new process |
|
|
574 fcntl -- control open file descriptors |
|
|
575 fork -- create a copy of the current process |
|
|
576 getpgrp -- return the process group id of the current process |
|
|
577 getpid -- return the process id of the current process |
|
|
578 getppid -- return the process id of the parent process |
|
2475
|
579 getuid -- return the real user id of the current process |
|
|
580 getgid -- return the real group id of the current process |
|
|
581 geteuid -- return the effective user id of the current process |
|
|
582 getegid -- return the effective group id of the current process |
|
2452
|
583 pipe -- create an interprocess channel |
|
|
584 |
|
|
585 * Other new functions: |
|
|
586 |
|
2554
|
587 commutation_matrix -- compute special matrix form |
|
|
588 duplication_matrix -- compute special matrix form |
|
|
589 common_size.m -- bring arguments to a common size |
|
|
590 completion_matches -- perform command completion on string |
|
2458
|
591 tilde_expand -- perform tilde expansion on string |
|
2554
|
592 |
|
|
593 meshgrid -- compatible with Matlab's meshgrid function |
|
|
594 tmpnam -- replaces octave_tmp_file_name |
|
|
595 atexit -- register functions to be called when Octave exits |
|
|
596 putenv -- define an environment variable |
|
|
597 bincoeff -- compute binomial coefficients |
|
|
598 nextpow2 -- compute the next power of 2 greater than a number |
|
|
599 detrend -- remove a best fit polynomial from data |
|
|
600 erfinv -- inverse error function |
|
|
601 shift -- perform a circular shift on the elements of a matrix |
|
|
602 pow2 -- compute 2 .^ x |
|
|
603 log2 -- compute base 2 logarithms |
|
|
604 diff -- compute differences of matrix elements |
|
|
605 vech -- stack columns of a matrix below the diagonal |
|
|
606 vec -- stack columns of a matrix to form a vector |
|
|
607 xor -- compute exclusive or |
|
2452
|
608 |
|
2459
|
609 * Functions for getting info from the password database on Unix systems: |
|
|
610 |
|
|
611 getpwent -- read entry from password-file stream, opening if necessary |
|
|
612 getpwuid -- search for password entry with matching user ID |
|
|
613 getpwnam -- search for password entry with matching username |
|
|
614 setpwent -- rewind the password-file stream |
|
|
615 endpwent -- close the password-file stream |
|
|
616 |
|
2484
|
617 * Functions for getting info from the group database on Unix systems: |
|
|
618 |
|
|
619 getgrent -- read entry from group-file stream, opening if necessary |
|
|
620 getgrgid -- search for group entry with matching group ID |
|
|
621 getgrnam -- search for group entry with matching group name |
|
|
622 setgrent -- rewind the pgroup-file stream |
|
|
623 endgrent -- close the group-file stream |
|
|
624 |
|
2452
|
625 * The New function octave_config_info returns a structure containing |
|
|
626 information about how Octave was configured and compiled. |
|
|
627 |
|
|
628 * New function getrusage returns a structure containing system |
|
|
629 resource usage statistics. The `cputime' function is now defined |
|
|
630 in an M-file using getrusage. |
|
|
631 |
|
|
632 * The info reader is now a separate binary that runs as a |
|
|
633 subprocess. You still need the info reader distributed with |
|
|
634 Octave though, because there are some new command-line arguments |
|
|
635 that are not yet available in the public release of Info. |
|
|
636 |
|
|
637 * There is a new built-in variable, INFO_PROGRAM, which is used as |
|
|
638 the name of the info program to run. Its initial value is |
|
|
639 $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave/VERSION/exec/ARCH/info, but that value can |
|
|
640 be overridden by the environment variable OCTAVE_INFO_PROGRAM, or |
|
|
641 the command line argument --info-program NAME, or by setting the |
|
|
642 value of INFO_PROGRAM in a startup script. |
|
|
643 |
|
|
644 * There is a new built-in variable, EXEC_PATH, which is used as |
|
|
645 the list of directories to search when executing subprograms. Its |
|
|
646 initial value is taken from the environment variable |
|
|
647 OCTAVE_EXEC_PATH (if it exists) or PATH, but that value can be |
|
|
648 overridden by the the command line argument --exec-path PATH, or |
|
|
649 by setting the value of EXEC_PATH in a startup script. If the |
|
|
650 EXEC_PATH begins (ends) with a colon, the directories |
|
|
651 $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave/VERSION/exec/ARCH and $OCTAVE_HOME/bin are |
|
|
652 prepended (appended) to EXEC_PATH (if you don't specify a value |
|
|
653 for EXEC_PATH explicitly, these special directories are prepended |
|
|
654 to your PATH). |
|
|
655 |
|
|
656 * If it is present, Octave will now use an `ls-R' database file to |
|
|
657 speed up recursive path searching. Octave looks for a file called |
|
|
658 ls-R in the directory specified by the environment variable |
|
|
659 OCTAVE_DB_DIR. If that is not set but the environment variable |
|
|
660 OCTAVE_HOME is set, Octave looks in $OCTAVE_HOME/lib/octave. |
|
|
661 Otherwise, Octave looks in the directory $datadir/octave (normally |
|
|
662 /usr/local/lib/octave). |
|
|
663 |
|
|
664 * New examples directory. |
|
|
665 |
|
|
666 * There is a new script, mkoctfile, that can be used to create .oct |
|
|
667 files suitable for dynamic linking. |
|
|
668 |
|
|
669 * Many more bug fixes. |
|
|
670 |
|
|
671 * ChangeLogs are now kept in each subdirectory. |
|
|
672 |
|
|
673 See NEWS.1 for old news. |
