Mercurial > hg > octave-nkf
annotate doc/interpreter/preface.txi @ 20772:bc6daa38ff50
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* graphics.cc: Eliminate simple uses of error_state.
author | John W. Eaton <jwe@octave.org> |
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date | Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:47:41 -0400 |
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1 @c Copyright (C) 1996-2015 John W. Eaton |
7018 | 2 @c |
3 @c This file is part of Octave. | |
4 @c | |
5 @c Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it | |
6 @c under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the | |
7 @c Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at | |
8 @c your option) any later version. | |
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9 @c |
7018 | 10 @c Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT |
11 @c ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or | |
12 @c FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License | |
13 @c for more details. | |
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14 @c |
7018 | 15 @c You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
16 @c along with Octave; see the file COPYING. If not, see | |
17 @c <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. | |
3294 | 18 |
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19 @ifclear AUTHORSONLY |
4167 | 20 @node Preface |
3294 | 21 @unnumbered Preface |
22 @cindex contributors | |
23 @cindex history | |
24 | |
25 Octave was originally intended to be companion software for an | |
26 undergraduate-level textbook on chemical reactor design being written by | |
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27 @nospell{James B. Rawlings} of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and |
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28 @nospell{John G. Ekerdt} of the University of Texas. |
3294 | 29 |
30 Clearly, Octave is now much more than just another `courseware' package | |
31 with limited utility beyond the classroom. Although our initial goals | |
32 were somewhat vague, we knew that we wanted to create something that | |
33 would enable students to solve realistic problems, and that they could | |
34 use for many things other than chemical reactor design problems. | |
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35 We find that most students pick up the basics of Octave quickly, and are |
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36 using it confidently in just a few hours. |
3294 | 37 |
38 Although it was originally intended to be used to teach reactor design, | |
39 it has been used in several other undergraduate and graduate | |
40 courses in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of | |
41 Texas, and the math department at the University of Texas has been using | |
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42 it for teaching differential equations and linear algebra as well. |
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43 More recently, Octave has been used as the primary computational tool |
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44 for teaching Stanford's online Machine Learning class |
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45 (@url{ml-class.org}) taught by Andrew Ng. Tens of thousands of students |
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46 participated in the course. |
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47 |
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48 If you find Octave useful, please let us know. We are always interested |
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49 to find out how Octave is being used. |
3294 | 50 |
51 Virtually everyone thinks that the name Octave has something to do with | |
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52 music, but it is actually the name of one of John W. Eaton's former |
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53 professors who wrote a famous textbook on chemical reaction engineering, |
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54 and who was also well known for his ability to do quick `back of the |
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55 envelope' calculations. We hope that this software will make it |
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56 possible for many people to do more ambitious computations just as |
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57 easily. |
3294 | 58 |
59 Everyone is encouraged to share this software with others under the | |
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60 terms of the GNU General Public License (@pxref{Copying}). You are |
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61 also encouraged to help make Octave more useful by writing and |
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62 contributing additional functions for it, and by reporting any problems |
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63 you may have. |
3294 | 64 |
65 @menu | |
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66 * Acknowledgements:: |
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67 * Citing Octave in Publications:: |
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68 * How You Can Contribute to Octave:: |
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69 * Distribution:: |
3294 | 70 @end menu |
71 | |
4167 | 72 @node Acknowledgements |
3294 | 73 @unnumberedsec Acknowledgements |
74 @cindex acknowledgements | |
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75 @end ifclear |
3294 | 76 |
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77 Many people have contributed to Octave's development. The |
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78 following people have helped code parts of Octave or aided in |
6665 | 79 various other ways (listed alphabetically). |
3294 | 80 |
6535 | 81 @include contributors.texi |
3294 | 82 |
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83 @ifclear AUTHORSONLY |
3294 | 84 Special thanks to the following people and organizations for |
85 supporting the development of Octave: | |
86 | |
87 @itemize @bullet | |
88 @item | |
7090 | 89 The United States Department of Energy, through grant number |
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90 @nospell{DE-FG02-04ER25635}. |
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92 @item | |
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93 @nospell{Ashok Krishnamurthy, David Hudak, Juan Carlos Chaves}, and |
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94 @nospell{Stanley C. Ahalt} of the Ohio Supercomputer Center. |
7090 | 95 |
96 @item | |
3839 | 97 The National Science Foundation, through grant numbers CTS-0105360, |
7090 | 98 CTS-9708497, CTS-9311420, CTS-8957123, and CNS-0540147. |
3839 | 99 |
100 @item | |
101 The industrial members of the Texas-Wisconsin Modeling and Control | |
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102 Consortium (@url{http://www.che.utexas.edu/twmcc, TWMCC}). |
3839 | 103 |
104 @item | |
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105 The @nospell{Paul A. Elfers} Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering at the |
3839 | 106 University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
107 | |
108 @item | |
3294 | 109 Digital Equipment Corporation, for an equipment grant as part of their |
110 External Research Program. | |
111 | |
112 @item | |
113 Sun Microsystems, Inc., for an Academic Equipment grant. | |
114 | |
115 @item | |
116 International Business Machines, Inc., for providing equipment as part | |
117 of a grant to the University of Texas College of Engineering. | |
118 | |
119 @item | |
120 Texaco Chemical Company, for providing funding to continue the | |
121 development of this software. | |
122 | |
123 @item | |
124 The University of Texas College of Engineering, for providing a | |
125 Challenge for Excellence Research Supplement, and for providing an | |
126 Academic Development Funds grant. | |
127 | |
128 @item | |
129 The State of Texas, for providing funding through the Texas | |
130 Advanced Technology Program under Grant No. 003658-078. | |
131 | |
132 @item | |
133 Noel Bell, Senior Engineer, Texaco Chemical Company, Austin Texas. | |
134 | |
135 @item | |
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136 John A. Turner, Group Leader, Continuum Dynamics @nospell{(CCS-2)}, |
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137 @nospell{Los Alamos} National Laboratory, for registering the |
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138 @url{octave.org} domain name. |
5753 | 139 |
140 @item | |
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141 @nospell{James B. Rawlings}, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, |
5753 | 142 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. |
3294 | 143 |
144 @item | |
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145 @nospell{Richard Stallman}, for writing GNU. |
3294 | 146 @end itemize |
147 | |
148 This project would not have been possible without the GNU software used | |
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149 in and to produce Octave. |
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151 @node Citing Octave in Publications |
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152 @unnumberedsec Citing Octave in Publications |
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153 @cindex Citing Octave |
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154 @cindex Citations |
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155 |
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156 In view of the many contributions made by numerous developers over many years |
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157 it is common courtesy to cite Octave in publications when it has been used |
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158 during the course of research or the preparation of figures. The |
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159 @code{citation} function can automatically generate a recommended citation |
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160 text for Octave or any of its packages. See the help text below on how to |
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161 use @code{citation}. |
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162 |
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163 @DOCSTRING(citation) |
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164 |
4167 | 165 @node How You Can Contribute to Octave |
3294 | 166 @unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute to Octave |
167 @cindex contributing to Octave | |
168 @cindex funding Octave development | |
169 | |
170 There are a number of ways that you can contribute to help make Octave a | |
171 better system. Perhaps the most important way to contribute is to write | |
172 high-quality code for solving new problems, and to make your code freely | |
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173 available for others to use. @xref{Contributing Guidelines}, for detailed |
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174 information on contributing new code. |
3294 | 175 |
176 If you find Octave useful, consider providing additional funding to | |
177 continue its development. Even a modest amount of additional funding | |
178 could make a significant difference in the amount of time that is | |
179 available for development and support. | |
180 | |
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181 Donations supporting Octave development may be made on the web at |
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182 @url{https://my.fsf.org/donate/working-together/octave}. These |
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183 donations also help to support the Free Software Foundation |
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184 |
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185 If you'd prefer to pay by check or money order, you can do so by sending |
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186 a check to the FSF at the following address: |
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187 |
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188 @quotation |
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189 Free Software Foundation@* |
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190 51 Franklin Street, Suite 500@* |
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191 Boston, MA 02110-1335@* |
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192 USA |
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193 @end quotation |
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194 |
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195 @noindent |
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196 If you pay by check, please be sure to write ``GNU Octave'' in the memo |
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197 field of your check. |
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198 |
3294 | 199 If you cannot provide funding or contribute code, you can still help |
200 make Octave better and more reliable by reporting any bugs you find and | |
201 by offering suggestions for ways to improve Octave. @xref{Trouble}, for | |
202 tips on how to write useful bug reports. | |
203 | |
4167 | 204 @node Distribution |
3294 | 205 @unnumberedsec Distribution |
206 @cindex distribution of Octave | |
207 | |
208 Octave is @dfn{free} software. This means that everyone is free to | |
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209 use it and free to redistribute it on certain conditions. Octave |
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210 is not, however, in the public domain. It is copyrighted and there are |
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211 restrictions on its distribution, but the restrictions are designed to |
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212 ensure that others will have the same freedom to use and redistribute |
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213 Octave that you have. The precise conditions can be found in the |
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214 GNU General Public License that comes with Octave and that also appears |
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215 in @ref{Copying}. |
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217 To download a copy of Octave, please visit |
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218 @url{http://www.octave.org/download.html}. |
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220 @end ifclear |