view doc/interpreter/octave.texi @ 14138:72c96de7a403 stable

maint: update copyright notices for 2012
author John W. Eaton <jwe@octave.org>
date Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:25:41 -0500
parents 951eacaf9381
children 87f06b9990bb
line wrap: on
line source

% Copyright (C) 1996-2012 John W. Eaton
%
% This file is part of Octave.
%
% Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
% under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
% Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
% your option) any later version.
% 
% Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
% ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
% FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
% for more details.
% 
% You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
% along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
% <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

\input texinfo
@setfilename octave.info

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@c want lots of `See also: foo, bar, and baz' strings cluttering the
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@c each group of functions and variables).

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@ifinfo
@format
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Octave: (octave).           Interactive language for numerical computations.

END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
@end format
@end ifinfo

@c Settings for printing on 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper:
@c -----------------------------------------------

@setchapternewpage odd

@c Settings for small book format:
@c ------------------------------

@ignore
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@defindex op

@c The version.texi file doesn't include a chapter, so it must not be
@c included if you want to run the Emacs function
@c texinfo-multiple-files-update.
@include version.texi

@settitle GNU Octave

@ifnottex

Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2011 John W. Eaton.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.

@ignore
Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
(this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).

@end ignore
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of
a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions.
@end ifnottex

@titlepage
@title GNU Octave
@subtitle A high-level interactive language for numerical computations
@subtitle Edition 3 for Octave version @value{VERSION}
@subtitle February 2011
@sp 2
@multitable @columnfractions 0.4 0.025 0.65
@item
@flushright @image{octave_logo,2.1in} @end flushright
@tab
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@titlefont{Free Your Numbers} 
@end multitable 
@author John W. Eaton
@author David Bateman
@author S@o{}ren Hauberg
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2011 John W. Eaton.

This is the third edition of the Octave documentation, and is consistent
with version @value{VERSION} of Octave.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
into another language, under the same conditions as for modified versions.

Portions of this document have been adapted from the @code{gawk},
@code{readline}, @code{gcc}, and C library manuals, published by the Free
Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02110-1301--1307, USA.
@end titlepage

@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top
@top

This manual documents how to run, install and port GNU Octave, as well
as its new features and incompatibilities, and how to report bugs.
It corresponds to GNU Octave version @value{VERSION}.
@end ifnottex

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------------

@menu
* Preface::                     
* Introduction::                A brief introduction to Octave.
* Getting Started::             
* Data Types::                  
* Numeric Data Types::          
* Strings::                     
* Data Containers::             
* Variables::                   
* Expressions::                 
* Evaluation::                  
* Statements::                  Looping and program flow control.
* Functions and Scripts::       
* Errors and Warnings::              
* Debugging::
* Input and Output::            
* Plotting::                    
* Matrix Manipulation::         
* Arithmetic::                  
* Linear Algebra::
* Vectorization and Faster Code Execution::
* Nonlinear Equations::
* Diagonal and Permutation Matrices::
* Sparse Matrices::
* Numerical Integration::                  
* Differential Equations::      
* Optimization::                
* Statistics::                  
* Sets::                        
* Polynomial Manipulations::    
* Interpolation::
* Geometry::
* Signal Processing::           
* Image Processing::            
* Audio Processing::            
* Object Oriented Programming::            
* GUI Development::            
* System Utilities::            
* Packages:: 
* Dynamically Linked Functions::
* Test and Demo Functions::
* Tips and Standards::                        
* Contributing Guidelines::
* Obsolete Functions::
* Trouble::                     If you have trouble installing Octave.
* Installation::                How to configure, compile and install Octave.
* Emacs Octave Support::                       
* Grammar and Parser::                     
* Copying::                     The GNU General Public License.
* Concept Index::               An item for each concept.
* Function Index::              An item for each documented function.
* Operator Index::              An item for each documented operator.

@detailmenu
 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Preface

* Acknowledgements::            
* How You Can Contribute to Octave::  
* Distribution::                

Introduction

* Running Octave::              
* Simple Examples::             
* Conventions::                 

Conventions

* Fonts::                       
* Evaluation Notation::         
* Printing Notation::           
* Error Messages::              
* Format of Descriptions::      

Format of Descriptions

* A Sample Function Description::  
* A Sample Command Description::  
* A Sample Variable Description::  

Getting Started

* Invoking Octave from the Command Line::             
* Quitting Octave::             
* Getting Help::                
* Command Line Editing::        
* Errors::                      
* Executable Octave Programs::  
* Comments::                    

Invoking Octave from the Command Line

* Command Line Options::        
* Startup Files::               

Command Line Editing

* Cursor Motion::               
* Killing and Yanking::         
* Commands For Text::           
* Commands For Completion::     
* Commands For History::        
* Customizing readline::        
* Customizing the Prompt::      
* Diary and Echo Commands::     

Comments

* Single Line Comments::
* Block Comments::
* Comments and the Help System::                    

Data Types

* Built-in Data Types::         
* User-defined Data Types::     
* Object Sizes::                

Built-in Data Types

* Numeric Objects::             
* Missing Data::                
* String Objects::              
* Data Structure Objects::      
* Cell Array Objects::          

Numeric Data Types

* Matrices::
* Ranges::
* Single Precision Data Types::
* Integer Data Types::
* Bit Manipulations::
* Logical Values:: 
* Promotion and Demotion of Data Types::
* Predicates for Numeric Objects::  

Matrices

* Empty Matrices::              

Integer Data Types

* Integer Arithmetic::

Strings

* Escape Sequences in String Constants::
* Character Arrays::
* Creating Strings:: 
* Comparing Strings::           
* Manipulating Strings::     
* String Conversions::          
* Character Class Functions::   

Creating Strings

* Concatenating Strings:: 
* Conversion of Numerical Data to Strings::

Data Containers

* Structures::
* Cell Arrays::
* Comma Separated Lists::

Structures

* Basic Usage and Examples::
* Structure Arrays::
* Creating Structures::
* Manipulating Structures::
* Processing Data in Structures::

Cell Arrays

* Basic Usage of Cell Arrays::
* Creating Cell Arrays::
* Indexing Cell Arrays::
* Cell Arrays of Strings::
* Processing Data in Cell Arrays::

Comma Separated Lists

* Comma Separated Lists Generated from Cell Arrays::
* Comma Separated Lists Generated from Structure Arrays::

Variables

* Global Variables::            
* Persistent Variables::        
* Status of Variables::         

Expressions

* Index Expressions::           
* Calling Functions::           
* Arithmetic Ops::              
* Comparison Ops::              
* Boolean Expressions::         
* Assignment Ops::              
* Increment Ops::               
* Operator Precedence::         

Index Expressions

* Advanced Indexing::           

Calling Functions

* Call by Value::               
* Recursion::                   

Boolean Expressions

* Element-by-element Boolean Operators::  
* Short-circuit Boolean Operators::  

Evaluation

* Calling a Function by its Name::
* Evaluation in a Different Context::

Statements

* The @code{if} Statement::            
* The @code{switch} Statement::        
* The @code{while} Statement::         
* The @code{do-until} Statement::      
* The @code{for} Statement::           
* The @code{break} Statement::         
* The @code{continue} Statement::      
* The @code{unwind_protect} Statement::  
* The @code{try} Statement::           
* Continuation Lines::          

The @code{switch} Statement

* Notes for the C Programmer::  

The @code{for} Statement

* Looping Over Structure Elements::  

Functions and Scripts

* Defining Functions::          
* Multiple Return Values::      
* Variable-length Argument Lists::  
* Ignoring Arguments::  
* Variable-length Return Lists::  
* Returning from a Function::   
* Default Arguments::   
* Function Files::              
* Script Files::                
* Function Handles Inline Functions and Anonymous Functions::
* Commands::
* Organization of Functions::   

Function Files

* Manipulating the Load Path::
* Subfunctions::
* Private Functions::
* Overloading and Autoloading::
* Function Locking::
* Function Precedence::

Function Handles Inline Functions and Anonymous Functions

* Function Handles::
* Anonymous Functions::
* Inline Functions::

Errors and Warnings

* Handling Errors::
* Handling Warnings::

Handling Errors

* Raising Errors::
* Catching Errors::
* Recovering From Errors::

Handling Warnings

* Issuing Warnings::
* Enabling and Disabling Warnings::

Debugging

* Entering Debug Mode::
* Leaving Debug Mode::
* Breakpoints::
* Debug Mode::
* Call Stack::

Input and Output

* Basic Input and Output::      
* C-Style I/O Functions::       

Basic Input and Output

* Terminal Output::             
* Terminal Input::              
* Simple File I/O::             
* Rational Approximations::

Terminal Output

* Paging Screen Output::

Simple File I/O

* Saving Data on Unexpected Exits::

C-Style I/O Functions

* Opening and Closing Files::   
* Simple Output::               
* Line-Oriented Input::         
* Formatted Output::            
* Output Conversion for Matrices::  
* Output Conversion Syntax::    
* Table of Output Conversions::  
* Integer Conversions::         
* Floating-Point Conversions::
* Other Output Conversions::    
* Formatted Input::             
* Input Conversion Syntax::     
* Table of Input Conversions::  
* Numeric Input Conversions::   
* String Input Conversions::    
* Binary I/O::                  
* Temporary Files::             
* EOF and Errors::              
* File Positioning::            

Plotting

* Introduction to Plotting::    
* High-Level Plotting::         
* Graphics Data Structures::    
* Advanced Plotting::           

High-Level Plotting

* Two-Dimensional Plots::       
* Three-Dimensional Plots::  
* Plot Annotations::            
* Multiple Plots on One Page::  
* Multiple Plot Windows::       
* Printing and Saving Plots::              
* Interacting with Plots::      
* Test Plotting Functions::     

Two-Dimensional Plots

* Axis Configuration::  
* Two-dimensional Function Plotting::  
* Two-dimensional Geometric Shapes::  

Three-Dimensional Plots

* Aspect Ratio::  
* Three-dimensional Function Plotting::  
* Three-dimensional Geometric Shapes::  

Graphics Data Structures

* Introduction to Graphics Structures::  
* Graphics Objects::            
* Graphics Object Properties::  
* Searching Properties::        
* Managing Default Properties::  

Graphics Object Properties

* Root Figure Properties::      
* Figure Properties::           
* Axes Properties::             
* Line Properties::             
* Text Properties::             
* Image Properties::            
* Patch Properties::            
* Surface Properties::          

Advanced Plotting

* Colors::                      
* Line Styles::                 
* Marker Styles::               
* Callbacks::                   
* Application-defined Data
* Object Groups::               
* Graphics Toolkits::           

Object Groups

* Data Sources in Object Groups::  
* Area Series::                 
* Bar Series::                  
* Contour Groups::              
* Error Bar Series::            
* Line Series::                 
* Quiver Group::                
* Scatter Group::               
* Stair Group::                 
* Stem Series::                 
* Surface Group::               

Graphics Toolkits

* Customizing Toolkit Behavior::

Matrix Manipulation

* Finding Elements and Checking Conditions::  
* Rearranging Matrices::        
* Special Utility Matrices::    
* Famous Matrices::             

Arithmetic

* Exponents and Logarithms::
* Complex Arithmetic::          
* Trigonometry::                
* Sums and Products::           
* Utility Functions::           
* Special Functions::           
* Rational Approximations::
* Coordinate Transformations::
* Mathematical Constants::      

Linear Algebra

* Techniques Used for Linear Algebra::
* Basic Matrix Functions::      
* Matrix Factorizations::       
* Functions of a Matrix::       
* Specialized Solvers::

Vectorization and Faster Code Execution

* Basic Vectorization::
* Broadcasting::
* Function Application::
* Accumulation::
* Miscellaneous Techniques::
* Examples::

Nonlinear Equations

* Solvers::
* Minimizers::

Diagonal and Permutation Matrices

* Basic Usage::          Creation and Manipulation of Diagonal and Permutation Matrices
* Matrix Algebra::       Linear Algebra with Diagonal and Permutation Matrices
* Function Support::     Functions That Are Aware of These Matrices
* Example Codes::        Some Examples of Usage
* Zeros Treatment::      The Differences in Treatment of Zero Elements

Basic Usage

* Creating Diagonal Matrices::
* Creating Permutation Matrices::
* Explicit and Implicit Conversions::

Matrix Algebra

* Expressions Involving Diagonal Matrices::
* Expressions Involving Permutation Matrices::

Function Support

* Diagonal Matrix Functions::
* Permutation Matrix Functions::

Sparse Matrices

* Basics::                      Creation and Manipulation of Sparse Matrices
* Sparse Linear Algebra::       Linear Algebra on Sparse Matrices
* Iterative Techniques::        Iterative Techniques
* Real Life Example::           Using Sparse Matrices

Basics

* Storage of Sparse Matrices::
* Creating Sparse Matrices::
* Information::
* Operators and Functions::

Operators and Functions

* Sparse Functions::            
* Return Types of Operators and Functions::  
* Mathematical Considerations::  

Numerical Integration

* Functions of One Variable:: 
* Orthogonal Collocation::      
* Functions of Multiple Variables:: 

Differential Equations

* Ordinary Differential Equations::  
* Differential-Algebraic Equations::  

Optimization

* Linear Programming::       
* Quadratic Programming::       
* Nonlinear Programming::       
* Linear Least Squares::        

Statistics

* Descriptive Statistics::
* Basic Statistical Functions:: 
* Statistical Plots:: 
* Correlation and Regression Analysis::
* Distributions::     
* Tests::                       
* Random Number Generation::          

Sets

* Set Operations::

Polynomial Manipulations

* Evaluating Polynomials::
* Finding Roots::
* Products of Polynomials::
* Derivatives / Integrals / Transforms::
* Polynomial Interpolation::
* Miscellaneous Functions::

Interpolation

* One-dimensional Interpolation::
* Multi-dimensional Interpolation::

Geometry

* Delaunay Triangulation::
* Voronoi Diagrams::
* Convex Hull::
* Interpolation on Scattered Data::

Delaunay Triangulation

* Plotting the Triangulation::
* Identifying Points in Triangulation::

Image Processing

* Loading and Saving Images::   
* Displaying Images::           
* Representing Images::         
* Plotting on top of Images::   
* Color Conversion::            

Object Oriented Programming

* Creating a Class::
* Manipulating Classes::
* Indexing Objects::
* Overloading Objects::
* Inheritance and Aggregation::

Indexing Objects

* Defining Indexing And Indexed Assignment::
* Indexed Assignment Optimization::

Overloading Objects

* Function Overloading::
* Operator Overloading::
* Precedence of Objects::

GUI Development

* I/O Dialogs::       
* Progress Bar::       
* GUI Utility Functions::       
* User-Defined Preferences::

System Utilities

* Timing Utilities::            
* Filesystem Utilities::        
* File Archiving Utilities::
* Networking Utilities::
* Controlling Subprocesses::    
* Process ID Information::      
* Environment Variables::       
* Current Working Directory::   
* Password Database Functions::  
* Group Database Functions::    
* System Information::          
* Hashing Functions::

Networking Utilities

* FTP Objects::
* URL Manipulation::

Packages

* Installing and Removing Packages::  
* Using Packages::              
* Administrating Packages::     
* Creating Packages::           

Creating Packages

* The DESCRIPTION File::        
* The INDEX File::              
* PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives::  

Dynamically Linked Functions

* Oct-Files::                   
* Mex-Files::                   
* Standalone Programs::         

Oct-Files

* Getting Started with Oct-Files::  
* Matrices and Arrays in Oct-Files::  
* Character Strings in Oct-Files::  
* Cell Arrays in Oct-Files::    
* Structures in Oct-Files::  
* Sparse Matrices in Oct-Files::  
* Accessing Global Variables in Oct-Files::  
* Calling Octave Functions from Oct-Files::  
* Calling External Code from Oct-Files::  
* Allocating Local Memory in Oct-Files::  
* Input Parameter Checking in Oct-Files::  
* Exception and Error Handling in Oct-Files::  
* Documentation and Test of Oct-Files::  

Sparse Matrices in Oct-Files

* Array and Sparse Differences::  
* Creating Sparse Matrices in Oct-Files::  
* Using Sparse Matrices in Oct-Files::  

Mex-Files

* Getting Started with Mex-Files::  
* Working with Matrices and Arrays in Mex-Files::  
* Character Strings in Mex-Files::  
* Cell Arrays with Mex-Files::  
* Structures with Mex-Files::  
* Sparse Matrices with Mex-Files::  
* Calling Other Functions in Mex-Files::  

Test and Demo Functions

* Test Functions::
* Demonstration Functions::

Tips and Standards

* Style Tips::                  Writing clean and robust programs.
* Comment Tips::                Conventions for writing comments.
* Function Headers::            Standard headers for functions.
* Documentation Tips::          Writing readable documentation strings.

Contributing Guidelines

* How to Contribute::
* General Guidelines::
* Octave Sources (m-files)::
* C++ Sources::
* Other Sources::

Trouble

* Actual Bugs::                 Bugs we will fix later.
* Reporting Bugs::              
* Service::                     

Reporting Bugs

* Bug Criteria::                
* Bug Tracker::                 Where to submit your bug report.
* Bug Reporting::               How to report a bug effectively.
* Sending Patches::             How to send a patch for Octave.

Installation

* Installation Problems::       

Emacs Octave Support

* Installing EOS::              
* Using Octave Mode::           
* Running Octave from Within Emacs::  
* Using the Emacs Info Reader for Octave::  

Grammar and Parser

* Keywords::                    
* Parser::                    

@end detailmenu
@end menu

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------------

@include preface.texi
@include intro.texi
@include basics.texi
@include data.texi
@include numbers.texi
@include strings.texi
@include container.texi
@include var.texi
@include expr.texi
@include eval.texi
@include stmt.texi
@include func.texi
@include errors.texi
@include debug.texi
@include io.texi
@include plot.texi
@include matrix.texi
@include arith.texi
@include linalg.texi
@include vectorize.texi
@include nonlin.texi
@include diagperm.texi
@include sparse.texi
@include quad.texi
@include diffeq.texi
@include optim.texi
@include stats.texi
@include set.texi
@include poly.texi
@include interp.texi
@include geometry.texi
@include signal.texi
@include image.texi
@include audio.texi
@include oop.texi
@include gui.texi
@include system.texi
@include package.texi

@c maybe add again later, if anyone every writes any really interesting
@c fun stuff for Octave.
@c
@c @include amuse.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------------
@c Appendices start here. 

@include dynamic.texi
@include testfun.texi
@include tips.texi
@include contrib.texi
@include obsolete.texi
@include bugs.texi
@include install.texi
@include emacs.texi
@include grammar.texi
@include gpl.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------------
@c Indices start here. 

@include cp-idx.texi
@c @include vr-idx.texi
@include fn-idx.texi
@include op-idx.texi

@bye