trh@ukc.ac.uk (T.R.Hopkins) (02/02/91)
Archive-name: math/matlab/pd-matlab/1991-01-31 Original-posting-by: trh@ukc.ac.uk (T.R.Hopkins) Original-subject: Re: PC MatLab Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti) In article <27A4D356.30CB@ibma0.cs.uiuc.edu> dollins@cs.uiuc.edu (Steven Dollins) writes: > > I'm looking for a public domain MatLab for the PC. Someone >a while ago said they knew of three of them. What is the difference >between these packages? (Is any of them better than the others?) >Where could I find them via ftp? Thanks for any help. > > Steven Dollins > dollins@cs.uiuc.edu I think this rates as a FAQ -- so here is the definitive answer from the original author of matlab taken from the latest matlab digest. Tim -------------------------------------------------------------- >From mathworks!moler@apple.com Thu Sep 20 14:55:21 1990 Subject: "Public Domain" MATLAB Is There a "Public Domain" MATLAB? From time to time, I see references to, or get requests for, the "public domain" version of MATLAB. I am the original author of MATLAB, and one of the founders of The MathWorks. I would like to explain how I regard "public domain" MATLAB. There are two versions of MATLAB. I wrote the first, which we now refer to as "classic" MATLAB, over the period from 1977 to 1984, while I was on the faculty at the University of New Mexico. It is an interactive matrix laboratory, written in Fortran, which uses some of the subroutines from LINPACK and EISPACK. I distributed a few hundred copies of the source code, usually charging a small service charge, and including a letter requesting that the code not be redistributed. I never used the term "public domain". The second version, written in C by Steve Bangert and John Little, is the basis for a family of products from The MathWorks, Inc., a company which Bangert, Little and I founded in 1985. These products are called PC-MATLAB, Mac-MATLAB, Pro-MATLAB, etc. I obviously recommend that anyone interested in using MATLAB acquire the MathWorks version appropriate for his or her machine. In addition to my commercial interest, I believe the MathWorks versions are preferable scientifically, educationally, and, in the long run, economically. The MathWorks versions: * Are faster in execution, * Have much better storage management, * Include powerful graphics, * Are extensible and programmable, * Can be expanded with sophisticated "toolboxes", * Are supported by scientific software professionals. The only feature of classic MATLAB that is not present in modern MATLAB is the "chop" function which allows the simulation of shorter precision arithmetic. It is an interesting curiosity, but it is no substitute for roundoff error analysis and it makes execution very slow, even when it isn't used. I know of several serious bugs in classic MATLAB, particularly in logical and looping operations, but I don't intend to fix them. In fact, there have been no fixes made to the code since about 1982. I stopped distributing any copies myself 4 or 5 years ago. The number of computers for which MathWorks MATLAB is not available is declining as old machines are retired and new machine versions are announced. A few other commercial systems, for example SCT's CTRL-C, are based on classic MATLAB. That's OK. CTRL-C, was done with my permission and it helped establish MATLAB in control and systems engineering. Now the company is a worthy competitor. I realize that classic MATLAB is available on a few bulletin boards and through some "freeware" services. In some cases, unauthorized statements about public domain software are included. I have regarded this as a mixed blessing. It certainly gives the MATLAB approach to computing valuable exposure, but I am afraid that some users of classic MATLAB do not realize how inferior it is to the MathWorks products. In summary, here is my position: * There is no such thing as "public domain" MATLAB. * I no longer distribute "classic" MATLAB. * The code and documentation of classic MATLAB cannot be used for commercial purposes without my permission. * I would appreciate it if anybody making a copy of classic MATLAB for personal or educational use would include this statement with it. -- Cleve Moler moler@mathworks.com, or, na.moler@na-net.stanford.edu