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1 @c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 John W. Eaton |
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2 @c This is part of the Octave manual. |
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3 @c For copying conditions, see the file gpl.texi. |
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4 |
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5 @node Preface, Introduction, Top, Top |
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6 @unnumbered Preface |
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7 @cindex contributors |
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8 @cindex history |
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9 |
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10 Octave was originally intended to be companion software for an |
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11 undergraduate-level textbook on chemical reactor design being written by |
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12 James B. Rawlings of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and John |
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13 G. Ekerdt of the University of Texas. |
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14 |
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15 Clearly, Octave is now much more than just another `courseware' package |
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16 with limited utility beyond the classroom. Although our initial goals |
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17 were somewhat vague, we knew that we wanted to create something that |
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18 would enable students to solve realistic problems, and that they could |
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19 use for many things other than chemical reactor design problems. |
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20 |
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21 There are those who would say that we should be teaching the students |
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22 Fortran instead, because that is the computer language of engineering, |
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23 but every time we have tried that, the students have spent far too much |
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24 time trying to figure out why their Fortran code crashes and not enough |
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25 time learning about chemical engineering. With Octave, most students |
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26 pick up the basics quickly, and are using it confidently in just a few |
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27 hours. |
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28 |
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29 Although it was originally intended to be used to teach reactor design, |
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30 it has been used in several other undergraduate and graduate |
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31 courses in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of |
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32 Texas, and the math department at the University of Texas has been using |
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33 it for teaching differential equations and linear algebra as well. If |
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34 you find it useful, please let us know. We are always interested to |
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35 find out how Octave is being used in other places. |
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36 |
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37 Virtually everyone thinks that the name Octave has something to do with |
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38 music, but it is actually the name of a former professor of mine who |
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39 wrote a famous textbook on chemical reaction engineering, and who was |
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40 also well known for his ability to do quick `back of the envelope' |
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41 calculations. We hope that this software will make it possible for many |
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42 people to do more ambitious computations just as easily. |
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43 |
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44 Everyone is encouraged to share this software with others under the |
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45 terms of the GNU General Public License (@pxref{Copying}) as described |
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46 at the beginning of this manual. You are also encouraged to help make |
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47 Octave more useful by writing and contributing additional functions for |
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48 it, and by reporting any problems you may have. |
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49 |
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50 @menu |
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51 * Acknowledgements:: |
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52 * How You Can Contribute to Octave:: |
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53 * Distribution:: |
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54 @end menu |
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55 |
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56 @node Acknowledgements, How You Can Contribute to Octave, Preface, Preface |
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57 @unnumberedsec Acknowledgements |
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58 @cindex acknowledgements |
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59 |
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60 Many people have already contributed to Octave's development. In |
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61 addition to John W. Eaton, the following people have helped write parts |
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62 of Octave or helped out in various other ways. |
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63 |
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64 @c Once lp_solve has been added, don't forget to include the lp_solve |
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65 @c author, and Kantor, for providing an example. |
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66 |
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67 @itemize @bullet |
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68 @item |
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69 Thomas Baier @email{baier@@ci.tuwien.ac.at} wrote the original versions |
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70 of @code{popen}, @code{pclose}, @code{execute}, @code{sync_system}, and |
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71 @code{async_system}. |
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72 |
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73 @item |
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74 Karl Berry @email{karl@@cs.umb.edu} wrote the @code{kpathsea} library |
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75 that allows Octave to recursively search directory paths for function |
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76 and script files. |
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77 |
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78 @item |
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79 Georg Beyerle @email{gbeyerle@@awi-potsdam.de} contributed code to save |
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80 values in @sc{Matlab}'s @file{.mat}-file format, and has provided many |
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81 useful bug reports and suggestions. |
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82 |
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83 @item |
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84 John Campbell @email{jcc@@bevo.che.wisc.edu} wrote most of the file and |
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85 C-style input and output functions. |
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86 |
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87 @item |
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88 Brian Fox @email{bfox@@gnu.ai.mit.edu} wrote the @code{readline} library |
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89 used for command history editing, and the portion of this manual that |
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90 documents it. |
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91 |
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92 @item |
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93 Klaus Gebhardt @email{gebhardt@@crunch.ikp.physik.th-darmstadt.de} |
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94 ported Octave to OS/2. |
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95 |
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96 @item |
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97 A. Scottedward Hodel @email{A.S.Hodel@@eng.auburn.edu} contributed a number |
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98 of functions including @code{expm}, @code{qzval}, @code{qzhess}, |
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99 @code{syl}, @code{lyap}, and @code{balance}. |
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100 |
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101 @item |
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102 Kurt Hornik @email{Kurt.Hornik@@ci.tuwien.ac.at} provided the |
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103 @code{corrcoef}, @code{cov}, @code{fftconv}, @code{fftfilt}, @code{gcd}, |
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104 @code{lcd}, @code{kurtosis}, @code{null}, @code{orth}, @code{poly}, |
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105 @code{polyfit}, @code{roots}, and @code{skewness} functions, supplied |
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106 documentation for these and numerous other functions, rewrote the Emacs |
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107 mode for editing Octave code and provided its documentation, and has |
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108 helped tremendously with testing. He has also been a constant source of |
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109 new ideas for improving Octave. |
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110 |
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111 @item |
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112 Phil Johnson @email{johnsonp@@nicco.sscnet.ucla.edu} has helped to make |
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113 Linux releases available. |
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114 |
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115 @item |
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116 Friedrich Leisch @email{leisch@@ci.tuwien.ac.at} provided the |
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117 @code{mahalanobis} function. |
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118 |
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119 @item |
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120 Ken Neighbors @email{wkn@@leland.stanford.edu} has provided many useful |
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121 bug reports and comments on @sc{Matlab} compatibility. |
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122 |
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123 @item |
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124 Rick Niles @email{niles@@axp745.gsfc.nasa.gov} rewrote Octave's plotting |
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125 functions to add line styles and the ability to specify an unlimited |
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126 number of lines in a single call. He also continues to track down odd |
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127 incompatibilities and bugs. |
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128 |
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129 @item |
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130 Mark Odegard @email{meo@@sugarland.unocal.com} provided the initial |
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131 implementation of @code{fread}, @code{fwrite}, @code{feof}, and |
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132 @code{ferror}. |
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133 |
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134 @item |
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135 Tony Richardson @email{arichard@stark.cc.oh.us} wrote Octave's |
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136 image processing functions as well as most of the original polynomial |
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137 functions. |
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138 |
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139 @item |
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140 R. Bruce Tenison @email{Bruce.Tenison@@eng.auburn.edu} wrote the |
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141 @code{hess} and @code{schur} functions. |
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142 |
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143 @item |
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144 Teresa Twaroch @email{twaroch@@ci.tuwien.ac.at} provided the functions |
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145 @code{gls} and @code{ols}. |
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146 |
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147 @item |
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148 Andreas Weingessel @email{Andreas.Weingessel@@ci.tuwien.ac.at} wrote the |
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149 audio functions @code{lin2mu}, @code{loadaudio}, @code{mu2lin}, |
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150 @code{playaudio}, @code{record}, @code{saveaudio}, and @code{setaudio}. |
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151 |
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152 @item |
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153 Fook Fah Yap @email{ffy@@eng.cam.ac.uk} provided the @code{fft} and |
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154 @code{ifft} functions and valuable bug reports for early versions. |
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155 @end itemize |
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156 |
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157 Special thanks to the following people and organizations for |
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158 supporting the development of Octave: |
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159 |
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160 @itemize @bullet |
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161 @item |
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162 Digital Equipment Corporation, for an equipment grant as part of their |
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163 External Research Program. |
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164 |
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165 @item |
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166 Sun Microsystems, Inc., for an Academic Equipment grant. |
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167 |
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168 @item |
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169 International Business Machines, Inc., for providing equipment as part |
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170 of a grant to the University of Texas College of Engineering. |
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171 |
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172 @item |
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173 Texaco Chemical Company, for providing funding to continue the |
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174 development of this software. |
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175 |
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176 @item |
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177 The University of Texas College of Engineering, for providing a |
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178 Challenge for Excellence Research Supplement, and for providing an |
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179 Academic Development Funds grant. |
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180 |
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181 @item |
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182 The State of Texas, for providing funding through the Texas |
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183 Advanced Technology Program under Grant No. 003658-078. |
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184 |
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185 @item |
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186 Noel Bell, Senior Engineer, Texaco Chemical Company, Austin Texas. |
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187 |
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188 @item |
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189 James B. Rawlings, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, |
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190 Department of Chemical Engineering. |
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191 |
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192 @item |
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193 Richard Stallman, for writing GNU. |
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194 @end itemize |
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195 |
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196 This project would not have been possible without the GNU software used |
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197 in and used to produce Octave. |
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198 |
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199 @node How You Can Contribute to Octave, Distribution, Acknowledgements, Preface |
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200 @unnumberedsec How You Can Contribute to Octave |
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201 @cindex contributing to Octave |
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202 @cindex funding Octave development |
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203 |
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204 There are a number of ways that you can contribute to help make Octave a |
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205 better system. Perhaps the most important way to contribute is to write |
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206 high-quality code for solving new problems, and to make your code freely |
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207 available for others to use. |
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208 |
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209 If you find Octave useful, consider providing additional funding to |
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210 continue its development. Even a modest amount of additional funding |
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211 could make a significant difference in the amount of time that is |
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212 available for development and support. |
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213 |
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214 If you cannot provide funding or contribute code, you can still help |
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215 make Octave better and more reliable by reporting any bugs you find and |
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216 by offering suggestions for ways to improve Octave. @xref{Trouble}, for |
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217 tips on how to write useful bug reports. |
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218 |
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219 @node Distribution, , How You Can Contribute to Octave, Preface |
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220 @unnumberedsec Distribution |
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221 @cindex distribution of Octave |
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222 |
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223 Octave is @dfn{free} software. This means that everyone is free to |
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224 use it and free to redistribute it on certain conditions. Octave is not |
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225 in the public domain. It is copyrighted and there are restrictions on |
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226 its distribution, but the restrictions are designed to ensure that |
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227 others will have the same freedom to use and redistribute Octave that |
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228 you have. The precise conditions can be found in the GNU General Public |
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229 License that comes with Octave and that also appears in @ref{Copying}. |
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230 |
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231 Octave is available on CD-ROM with various collections of other free |
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232 software, and from the Free Software Foundation. Ordering a copy of |
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233 Octave from the Free Software Foundation helps to fund the development |
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234 of more free software. For more information, write to |
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235 |
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236 @quotation |
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237 Free Software Foundation@* |
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238 59 Temple Place---Suite 330@* |
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239 Boston, MA 02111--1307@* |
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240 USA |
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241 @end quotation |
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242 |
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243 Octave is also available on the Internet from |
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244 @url{ftp://ftp.che.wisc.edu/pub/octave}, and additional information is |
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245 available from @url{http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave}. |
