Scilab vs. Octave (for control systems design)

[Sigmoid]

Hey,

I'm looking for a free MATLAB-like tool... I found two candidates, Scilab and Octave, both seem to have their proponents... Scilab is often ripped on for not being compatible with MATLAB enough to run unmodified programs.

Do any of you use one of the two? If strict MATLAB compatibility is not a requirement (as opposed to usability, capabilities and reliability), which one would be the best choice?

[alm]

I have some experience with Octave and none with Scilab, so I'm not the best person to answer this, but I'll give you my $0.02 anyway.

My impression is that both offer a solid core. Octave is able to run many MATLAB programs that don't use specialist toolboxes with only minor modifications, while Scilab is MATLAB-inspired rather than a MATLAB clone. None of this matters if you're developing specifically for Scilab/Octave. There are some GUIs for Octave (I've used qtoctave in the past), but they are clearly inferior to the MATLAB GUI. Scilab appears to be doing better in that regard.

It might boil down to their equivalent of toolboxes. For example Scilab has Xcos (an alternative to MathWorks Simulink), while Octave did not have any Simulink equivalent last time I checked. Octave has a decent number of community-developed packages on Octave-Forge, however. If you don't care about compatibility with the MATLAB language but just with its functionality, then Python with the various SciPy components (including NumPy for matrices and Matplotlib for MATLAB-like plotting) might also be worth considering. The advantage is that you get a general purpose programming language which simplifies operations like I/O and interfacing with other software.

[Bored@Work]

My experience with Scilab is very limited. I tried it years ago, didn't like it and moved to Octave. What you won't get with Octave is 100% Matlab compatibility. It takes some effort to write programs that work under both Octave and Matlab. You have to write to the least common denominator. I.e. it is not much fun. Octave lacks language features and some toolboxes compared to Matlab. And Matlab lacks some of Octave's toolboxes, too.

Frankly, I if you need Matlab compatibility then only Matlab will do.

[Sigmoid]

Frankly, I if you need Matlab compatibility then only Matlab will do.

Figured that much, I've worked on a single codebase for SQL Server and Sybase ASE, and well, I'm sure it only gets worse than that.
Anyway, MATLAB compatibility is not really the point. I just need something that does most of what MATLAB does. Currently, I have to say that Xcos kind of weighs in Scilab's favor.

[joeqsmith]

Yes it's an old post but hey I am new here....

I have played with Octave over the years.   A real pain to get it built and was never sure why they just to target 64-bits and be done with it.  Once they dropped the front end, I lost interest.  I do have a 64-bit version I built with the toolboxes.   Very compatible clone.  Sci-Lab is a whole different animal (which is a good thing).   

Sci-Lab has an interface very similar to Simulink.  I am attempting to use Sci-Lab with X2C.   I made this video a few months ago. 



This is a much better video showing it actually doing something.

[owiecc]

You know that you can buy a MATLAB license for home use for about €120.

[LabSpokane]

You know that you can buy a MATLAB license for home use for about €120.

When did that start?  I have seen academic licenses but never home.

[Seán]

You know that you can buy a MATLAB license for home use for about €120.

When did that start?  I have seen academic licenses but never home.

It is a pretty recent thing I think ...I only found out about it when I was at a MATLAB seminar a few moths back. I imagine they know people have used cracked versions of MATLAB is the past, but they also know the only reason some (most?) of these people used the cracked versions was because of the very high cost of the licence, so they figured they would bring the costs down and get some money coming in from your average home user/hobby type of person. I don't know how true that logic is, but there you go.

But whatever the reasons, I am really glad they have done the home licence thing.

Seán

[owiecc]

It is a pretty recent thing. I think they introduced it last year.

BTW. Do you know how student licenses works? What happens after you graduate? Can you still use it for a noncommercial projects or should you migrate to full/home license?

[LabSpokane]

I seem to recall that my student license was only valid while I was a student. But that was a while ago and that version was crippled back then, so I will just buy the home version. This is really awesome. I used to get in so much trouble remotely farming big jobs onto remote  workstations. My only disappointment is that now I have to pay for the privilege.

I hope people pony up and this policy continues. Been waiting for this for too long.

[Kappes Buur]

[Seán]

BTW. Do you know how student licenses works? What happens after you graduate? Can you still use it for a noncommercial projects or should you migrate to full/home license?

I would image you can keep using it, for home projects and what have you, but if you wanted to get the latest version etc., and are no longer a student, you need to get the Home licence.

Seán

[Noise Floor]

Frankly, I if you need Matlab compatibility then only Matlab will do.

Anyway, MATLAB compatibility is not really the point. I just need something that does most of what MATLAB does. Currently, I have to say that Xcos kind of weighs in Scilab's favor.

You want Scilab.

[miguelvp]

I was going to ask if IDL was still a product, but I googled it and it seems they still exist

http://www.exelisvis.com/ProductsServices/IDL.aspx

But it seems you have to register to find the price out, so it's probably still expensive. Used to use it for free at Uni so I have no idea what the cost was/is.