changeset 11396:7b563cf94d8d

Remove documentation on deprecated function dispatch
author Rik <octave@nomad.inbox5.com>
date Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:27:17 -0800
parents 0754a4e271f4
children 57868a21170e
files doc/ChangeLog doc/interpreter/func.txi doc/interpreter/sparse.txi
diffstat 3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 40 deletions(-) [+]
line wrap: on
line diff
--- a/doc/ChangeLog	Sun Dec 19 22:42:57 2010 -0500
+++ b/doc/ChangeLog	Sun Dec 19 20:27:17 2010 -0800
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2010-12-19  Rik  <octave@nomad.inbox5.com>
+
+	* interpreter/func.txi, interpreter/sparse.txi: Remove documentation
+	on deprecated function dispatch.
+
 2010-12-19  Rik  <octave@nomad.inbox5.com>
 
 	* interpreter/Makefile.am: Update mk_undocumented_list target to use
--- a/doc/interpreter/func.txi	Sun Dec 19 22:42:57 2010 -0500
+++ b/doc/interpreter/func.txi	Sun Dec 19 20:27:17 2010 -0800
@@ -782,31 +782,13 @@
 @node Overloading and Autoloading
 @subsection Overloading and Autoloading
 
-The @code{dispatch} function can be used to alias one function name to
-another.  It can be used to alias all calls to a particular function name
-to another function, or the alias can be limited to only a particular
-variable type.  Consider the example,
-
-@example
-@group
-function y = spsin (x)
-  printf ("Calling spsin\n");
-  fflush(stdout);
-  y = spfun ("sin", x);
-endfunction
-
-dispatch ("sin", "spsin", "sparse matrix");
-y0 = sin(eye(3));
-y1 = sin(speye(3));
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-which aliases the user-defined function @code{spsin} to @code{sin}, but only for
-real sparse matrices.  Note that the builtin @code{sin} already correctly treats
-sparse matrices and so this example is only illustrative.
-
-@DOCSTRING(dispatch)
+Functions can be overloaded to work with different input arguments.  For
+example, the operator '+' has been overloaded in Octave to work with single,
+double, uint8, int32, and many other arguments.  The preferred way to overload
+functions is through classes and object oriented programming 
+(@pxref{Function Overloading}).  Occasionally, however, one needs to undo
+user overloading and call the default function associated with a specific
+type.  The @code{builtin} function exists for this purpose.
 
 @DOCSTRING(builtin)
 
@@ -930,7 +912,7 @@
 @ref{Object Oriented Programming}.
 
 @item Legacy Dispatch
-An overloaded function as defined by @xref{doc-dispatch}.
+An overloaded function as defined by @code{dispatch}.
 
 @item Command-line Function
 A function that has been defined on the command-line.
--- a/doc/interpreter/sparse.txi	Sun Dec 19 22:42:57 2010 -0500
+++ b/doc/interpreter/sparse.txi	Sun Dec 19 20:27:17 2010 -0800
@@ -451,21 +451,16 @@
 @node Sparse Functions
 @subsubsection Sparse Functions
 
-An important consideration in the use of the sparse functions of
-Octave is that many of the internal functions of Octave, such as
-@dfn{diag}, cannot accept sparse matrices as an input.  The sparse
-implementation in Octave therefore uses the @dfn{dispatch}
-function to overload the normal Octave functions with equivalent
-functions that work with sparse matrices.  However, at any time the
-sparse matrix specific version of the function can be used by
-explicitly calling its function name. 
+Many Octave functions have been overloaded to work with either sparse or full
+matrices.  There is no difference in calling convention when using an
+overloaded function with a sparse matrix, however, there is also no access to
+potentially sparse-specific features.  At any time the sparse matrix specific
+version of a function can be used by explicitly calling its function name. 
 
-The table below lists all of the sparse functions of Octave.  Note that
-the names of the 
-specific sparse forms of the functions are typically the same as
-the general versions with a @dfn{sp} prefix.  In the table below, and the
-rest of this article the specific sparse versions of the functions are
-used.
+The table below lists all of the sparse functions of Octave.  Note that the
+names of the specific sparse forms of the functions are typically the same as
+the general versions with a @dfn{sp} prefix.  In the table below, and in the
+rest of this article, the specific sparse versions of functions are used.
 
 @c Table includes in comments the missing sparse functions