Re: Matlab quirks

[Miguel Bazdresch]

On 03/26/2012 10:19 AM, Rik wrote:
> On 03/26/2012 06:41 AM, address@hidden wrote:
> > Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:45:06 -0600
> > From: Miguel Bazdresch<address@hidden>
> > To: ahowe42<address@hidden>
> > Cc:address@hidden
> > Subject: Re: bin2dec behavior different from Matlab?
> >
> > Also, it would sound bad to tell them not to use 'num2str' because, you
> > know, it has some quirks (and Matlab, by the way, does not).

> This isn't true. Matlab has lots of quirks. Only because they are the
> 800 pound gorilla in this space is their behavior accepted as the norm
> rather than being seen as difficult or obtuse. This thread began because
> bin2dec in Octave was treating spaces differently than Matlab. But
> Matlab itself has flipped and flopped on the desired behavior.

<snip>

> So Octave was compatible with Matlab, then Matlab changed their behavior
> and Octave became incompatible, and now Octave has been modified to
> restore compatibility. There was never any quirkiness or bad programming
> in Octave on this issue.
>
> --Rik

I see that I was careless in what I wrote, and I implied things I didn't 
mean to. I apologize for that.

What I meant to say is this: the unexpected difference between Matlab 
and Octave's num2str caused a lot of grief to some of my students. They 
did a large project, tested it on Matlab, but I couldn't reproduce their 
results. It took some digging on my part to find the problem, and 
meanwhile their grades were in suspense.

Students talk among themselves, and I seem to notice that in this 
particular case Octave's reputation was somewhat tarnished. For the 
first time in several years, I have seen more students switch to Matlab 
than the inverse (usually less than 30% of my students use Octave at the 
start of the class, but 80% to 90% use it by the end of the semester).

By "a quirk in Octave", I meant it was perceived as such by the 
students, since Matlab's behavior made more sense in their eyes. Octave 
was "guilty" that their grades were at risk. I have explained the 
problem to the students, and some seem impressed that I could report the 
problem and people immediately started to work on it (thanks guys!), but 
some remain unconvinced on Octave's trustworthiness, despite my efforts.

I hope I'm being clearer this time; especially I hope it's clear I meant 
no offense to the development team.

--
Miguel Bazdresch