# HG changeset patch # User Kai T. Ohlhus # Date 1551690277 -3600 # Node ID 0b3d9f76c7cd77516e5875d1a783dd5b1f2e3773 # Parent b035f3ca13be00356054eafcf1907c1419b09915 * NEWS-5.1.md: Markdownify. diff -r b035f3ca13be -r 0b3d9f76c7cd NEWS-5.1.md --- a/NEWS-5.1.md Sat Mar 02 09:48:25 2019 +0100 +++ b/NEWS-5.1.md Mon Mar 04 10:04:37 2019 +0100 @@ -1,303 +1,330 @@ --- -layout: default +layout: page +title: Summary of important user-visible changes for version 5 +menu: false --- -
-Summary of important user-visible changes for version 5 (2019-02-23):
---------------------------------------------------------------------
+February 23, 2019
+
+

+* TOC
+{:toc}
+

 
- ** The determination of an object's dimensions, size, and shape by the
-    functions ndims, rows, columns, isscalar, isvector, isrow, iscolumn,
-    ismatrix, and issquare now fully depends on the function size.
-    Thus, any user-defined object can ensure correct treatment by the
-    aforementioned functions by properly overloading the "size"
-    function.
+### General improvements
 
- ** The function randi has been recoded to produce an unbiased (all
-    results are equally likely) sample of integers.  This may produce
-    different results in existing code.  If it is necessary to reproduce
-    the exact random integer sequence as in previous versions use
+- The Octave plotting system now supports high resolution screens,
+  i.e., those with greater than 96 DPI which are referred to as
+  HiDPI/Retina monitors.
+
+- Unicode character support for files and folders in Windows.
 
-      ri = imin + floor ((imax - imin + 1) * rand ());
+- A new core function `movfun` will apply a function to a sliding
+  window of arbitrary size on a dataset and accumulate the results.
+  Many common cases have been implemented using the naming
+  scheme `movXXX` where `XXX` is the function that will be applied.
+  For example, the moving average over a dataset is `movmean`.
+  New moving window functions:
+
+  `movfun`  `movslice`
+  `movmad`  `movmax`   `movmean`  `movmedian`  `movmin`  `movprod`
+  `movstd`  `movsum`   `movvar`
 
- ** A new core function movfun will apply a function to a sliding
-    window of arbitrary size on a dataset and accumulate the results.
-    Many common cases have been implemented using the naming
-    scheme movXXX where "XXX" is the function that will be applied.
-    For example, the moving average over a dataset is movmean.
-    New moving window functions:
+- The `fsolve` function has been tweaked to use larger step sizes when
+  calculating the Jacobian of a function with finite differences.
+  This leads to faster convergence.
 
-    movfun   movslice
-    movmad   movmax   movmean   movmedian   movmin   movprod
-    movstd   movsum   movvar
+- The `ranks` function has been recoded for performance and is now 25X
+  faster.  In addition, it now supports a third argument that specifies
+  how to resolve the ranking of tie values.
 
- ** The functions issymmetric and ishermitian accept an option "nonskew"
-    or "skew" to calculate the symmetric or skew-symmetric property
-    of a matrix.  Performance has also been increased.
+- The function `randi` has been recoded to produce an unbiased (all
+  results are equally likely) sample of integers.  This may produce
+  different results in existing code.  If it is necessary to reproduce
+  the exact random integer sequence as in previous versions use
 
- ** The function isdefinite now returns true or false rather than
-    -1, 0, 1.  To test for a positive semi-definite matrix (old output
-    of 0) check whether the following two conditions hold:
+  `ri = imin + floor ((imax - imin + 1) * rand ());`
 
-      isdefinite (A) => 0
-      isdefinite (A + 5*TOL, TOL) => 1
+- The function `isdefinite` now returns `true` or `false` rather than
+  `-1`, `0`, or `1`.  To test for a positive semi-definite matrix (old
+  output of `0`) check whether the following two conditions hold:
+
+    `isdefinite (A) => 0`  and  `isdefinite (A + 5*TOL, TOL) => 1`
 
- ** The issorted function now uses a direction option of "ascend" or
-    "descend" to make it compatible with both the sort function and
-    with Matlab.  Change all uses of "ascending" and "descending" in
-    existing code to the new options.
+- The `intmax`, `intmin`, and `flintmax` functions now accept a variable
+  as input.  Existing code to query the range of an existing variable can
+  be simplified by removing the call to `class` that was previously
+  required.  For example defining the variable `x = int8 (3)` in the
+  workspace, calls like
 
- ** The strncmp and strncmpi functions now return true if the two input
-    strings match, even though the number of characters specified by N
-    exceeds the string length.  This behavior more closely matches
-    common sense and is Matlab compatible.  Example:
+    `range = [ intmin(class(x)), intmax(class(x)) ]`
 
-      Octave 5   : strncmp ("abc", "abc", 100) => true
-      Previously : strncmp ("abc", "abc", 100) => false
+  can in Octave 5 be simplified to `range = [ intmin(x), intmax(x) ]`.
 
- ** The intmax, intmin, and flintmax functions now accept a variable
-    as input.  This supports a common programming usage which is to
-    query the range of an existing variable.  Existing code can be
-    simplified by removing the call to "class" that was previously
-    required.  Example:
+- The path handling functions no longer perform variable or brace
+  expansion on path elements and Octave's load-path is no longer
+  subject to these expansions.
 
-                   x = int8 (3);
-      Octave 5   : range = [ intmin(x), intmax(x) ]
-      Previously : range = [ intmin(class(x)), intmax(class(x)) ]
+- A new printing device is available, `"-ddumb"`, which produces ASCII
+  art for plots.  This device is only available with the gnuplot toolkit.
+
+
+### Dependencies
 
- ** The ranks function has been recoded for performance and is now 25X
-    faster.  In addition, it now supports a third argument that
-    specifies how to resolve the ranking of tie values.
+- The GUI requires Qt libraries.  The minimum Qt4 version supported is
+  Qt4.8.  Qt5 of any version is preferred.
 
- ** The fsolve function has been tweaked to use larger step sizes when
-    calculating the Jacobian of a function with finite differences.
-    This leads to faster convergence.  The default solver options have
-    also changed to be Matlab compatible.  This *may* result in existing
-    code producing different results.
+- The OSMesa library is no longer used.  To print invisible figures
+  when using OpenGL graphics, the Qt `QOFFSCREENSURFACE` feature must be
+  available and you must use the qt graphics toolkit.
+
+- The FFTW library is now required to perform FFT calculations.
+  The FFTPACK sources have been removed from Octave.
+
+
+### Matlab compatibility
 
-          Option     |  New Default   |  Old Default
-      ------------------------------------------------
-        FinDiffType  |   "forward"    |   "central"
-        MaxFunEvals  | 100*length(x0) |     Inf
-        TolFun       |     1e-6       |     1e-7
-        TolX         |     1e-6       |     1e-7
-        Updating     |     "off"      |     "on"
+- The determination of an object's dimensions, size, and shape by the
+  functions `ndims`, `rows`, `columns`, `isscalar`, `isvector`,
+  `isrow`, `iscolumn`, `ismatrix`, and `issquare` now fully depends
+  on the function size.  Thus, any user-defined object can ensure correct
+  treatment by the aforementioned functions by properly overloading the
+  `size` function.
 
- ** The fminsearch function has changed default solver options for
-    Matlab compatibility.  The accuracy option TolFun is now 1e-4 rather
-    than 1e-7.  This *may* result in existing code producing different
-    results.
+- The functions `issymmetric` and `ishermitian` accept an option
+  `"nonskew"` or `"skew"` to calculate the symmetric or skew-symmetric
+  property of a matrix.  Performance has also been increased.
 
- ** The fminbnd function has changed defaults for Matlab compatibility.
-    This *may* result in existing code producing different results.
+- The `issorted` function now uses a direction option of `"ascend"`
+  or `"descend"`.  Change all uses of `"ascending"` and `"descending"`
+  in existing code to the new options.
+
+- The `strncmp` and `strncmpi` functions now return `true` if the two
+  input strings match, even though the number of characters specified
+  by `n` exceeds the string length.  For Example:
 
-          Option     |  New Default   |  Old Default
-      ------------------------------------------------
-        MaxFunEvals  |      500       |     Inf
-        MaxIter      |      500       |     Inf
-        TolX         |     1e-4       |     1e-8
+    `strncmp ("abc", "abc", 100)`
+
+  returns `true` in Octave 5 and `false` in older versions of Octave.
+
+- The `str2func` function no longer accepts a second `"global"` argument.
+  This argument was typically used to allow functions that accept
+  function names as arguments to avoid conflicts with subfunctions or
+  nested functions.  Instead, it's best to avoid this situation
+  entirely and require users to pass function handles rather than
+  function names.
 
- ** The fminunc function has changed defaults for Matlab compatibility.
-    This *may* result in existing code producing different results.
+- Using `clear` with no arguments now removes only local variables
+  from the current workspace.  Global variables will no longer be
+  visible, but they continue to exist in the global workspace and
+  possibly other workspaces such as the base workspace.
 
-          Option     |  New Default   |  Old Default
-      ------------------------------------------------
-        FinDiffType  |   "forward"    |   "central"
-        MaxFunEvals  | 100*length(x0) |     Inf
-        TolX         |     1e-6       |     1e-7
-        TolFun       |     1e-6       |     1e-7
+
+#### Nonlinear Equations
+
+Several default solver options have been changed to be Matlab compatible.
+This *may* result in existing code producing different results.
 
- ** Using "clear" with no arguments now removes only local variables
-    from the current workspace.  Global variables will no longer be
-    visible, but they continue to exist in the global workspace and
-    possibly other workspaces such as the base workspace.
-    This change was made for Matlab compatibility.
+- `fsolve`
 
- ** The Octave plotting system now supports high resolution screens,
-    i.e, those with greater than 96 DPI which are referred to as
-    HiDPI/Retina monitors.
+  Option         |   New Default    | Old Default
+  ---------------|------------------|-------------
+  `FinDiffType`  |    `"forward"`   |  `"central"`
+  `MaxFunEvals`  | `100*length(x0)` |    `Inf`
+  `TolFun`       |     `1e-6`       |    `1e-7`
+  `TolX`         |     `1e-6`       |    `1e-7`
+  `Updating`     |     `"off"`      |    `"on"`
 
- ** Figure graphic objects have a new property "Number" which is
-    read-only and will return the handle (number) of the figure.
-    However, if the property "IntegerHandle" has been set to "off" then
-    the property will return an empty matrix ([]).
+- `fminsearch`
 
- ** Patch and surface graphic objects now use the "FaceNormals" property
-    for flat lighting.
+  Option   | New Default | Old Default
+  ---------|-------------|------------
+  `TolFun` |   `1e-7`    |   `1e-4`
+
+- `fminbnd`
 
- ** "FaceNormals" and "VertexNormals" for patch and surface graphic
-    objects are now calculated only when necessary to improve graphics
-    performance.  In order for any normals to be calculated the
-    "FaceLighting" property must be set to "flat" (FaceNormals) or
-    "gouraud" (VertexNormals), AND a light object must be present in the
-    axes.
+  Option         | New Default | Old Default
+  ---------------|-------------|------------
+  `MaxFunEvals`  |     `500`   |   `Inf`
+  `MaxIter`      |     `500`   |   `Inf`
+  `TolX`         |    `1e-4`   |   `1e-8`
 
- ** The "Margin" property of text() objects has a new default of 3
-    rather than 2.  This change was made for Matlab compatibility.
+- `fminunc`
 
- ** Printing to raster formats (bitmaps like PNG or JPEG) now uses an
-    OpenGL-based method by default.  The print options "-opengl"
-    (raster) and "-painters" (vector) have been added ("qt" toolkit
-    only).  The figure property "renderer" specifies which renderer to
-    use.  When the property "renderermode" is "auto" Octave will select
-    -opengl for a raster output format and -painters for a vector output
-    format.
+  Option         |   New Default    | Old Default
+  ---------------|------------------|------------
+  `FinDiffType`  |   `"forward"`    | `"central"`
+  `MaxFunEvals`  | `100*length(x0)` |   `Inf`
+  `TolX`         |     `1e-6`       |   `1e-7`
+  `TolFun`       |     `1e-6`       |   `1e-7`
 
- ** A new print option "-RGBImage" has been added which captures the
-    pixels of a figure as an image.  This is similar to screen capture
-    tools, except that print formatting options can be used to, for
-    example, change the resolution or display the image in black and
-    white.
+
+#### Graphic objects
+
+- Figure graphic objects have a new property `"Number"` which is
+  read-only and will return the handle (number) of the figure.
+  However, if the property `"IntegerHandle"` has been set to `"off"`
+  then the property will return an empty matrix `[]`.
 
- ** Two new print options for page-based formats (PDF, PostScript) have
-    been added.  The "-fillpage" option will stretch the plot to occupy
-    the entire page with 0.25 inch margins all around.  The "-bestfit"
-    option will expand the plot to take up as much room as possible on
-    the page without distorting the original aspect ratio of the plot.
+- Patch and surface graphic objects now use the `"FaceNormals"` property
+  for flat lighting.
 
- ** Printing using the -dtiff output device will now create compressed
-    images using LZW compression.  This change was made for Matlab
-    compatibility.  To produce uncompressed images use the -dtiffn
-    device.
+- `"FaceNormals"` and `"VertexNormals"` for patch and surface graphic
+  objects are now calculated only when necessary to improve graphics
+  performance.  In order for any normals to be calculated the
+  `"FaceLighting"` property must be set to `"flat"` (FaceNormals) or
+  `"gouraud"` (VertexNormals), **and** a light object must be present
+  in the axes.
 
- ** A new printing device is available, -ddumb, which produces ASCII art
-    for plots.  This device is only available with the gnuplot toolkit.
-
- ** Specifying legend position with a numeric argument is deprecated and
-    will be removed in Octave 7.0.  Use a string argument instead.
+- The `"Margin"` property of `text`-objects has a new default of `3`
+  rather than `2`.
 
- ** It is now possible to use files and folders containing Unicode
-    characters in Windows.
-
- ** The environment variable used by mkoctfile for linker flags is now
-    LDFLAGS rather than LFLAGS.  LFLAGS is deprecated, and a warning
-    is emitted if is used, but it will continue to work until eventual
-    removal in Octave 7.0.
+- Printing to raster formats (bitmaps like PNG or JPEG) now uses an
+  OpenGL-based method by default.  The print options `"-opengl"`
+  (raster) and `"-painters"` (vector) have been added ("qt" toolkit
+  only).  The figure property `"renderer"` specifies which renderer to
+  use.  When the property `"renderermode"` is `"auto"` Octave will select
+  `"-opengl"` for a raster output format and `"-painters"` for a vector
+  output format.
 
- ** The GUI requires Qt libraries.  The minimum Qt4 version supported is
-    Qt4.8.  Qt5 of any version is preferred.
+- A new print option `"-RGBImage"` has been added which captures the
+  pixels of a figure as an image.  This is similar to screen capture
+  tools, except that print formatting options can be used to, for
+  example, change the resolution or display the image in black and
+  white.
 
- ** The FFTW library is now required to perform FFT calculations.
-    The FFTPACK sources have been removed from Octave.
+- Two new print options for page-based formats (PDF, PostScript) have
+  been added.  The `"-fillpage"` option will stretch the plot to occupy
+  the entire page with 0.25 inch margins all around.  The `"-bestfit"`
+  option will expand the plot to take up as much room as possible on
+  the page without distorting the original aspect ratio of the plot.
 
- ** The OSMesa library is no longer used.  To print invisible figures
-    when using OpenGL graphics, the Qt QOFFSCREENSURFACE feature must be
-    available and you must use the qt graphics toolkit.
+- Printing using the `"-dtiff"` output device will now create compressed
+  images using LZW compression.  To produce uncompressed images use the
+  `"-dtiffn"` device.
+
+
+### Legacy functions
 
- ** The str2func function no longer accepts a second "global" argument.
-    This argument was typically used to allow functions that accept
-    function names as arguments to avoid conflicts with subfunctions or
-    nested functions.  Instead, it's best to avoid this situation
-    entirely and require users to pass function handles rather than
-    function names.
+The following functions have been declared legacy functions which
+means they are obsolete and should not be used in any new code.
+Unlike deprecated functions, however, their removal from Octave has
+not yet been scheduled.
 
- ** The path handling functions no longer perform variable or brace
-    expansion on path elements and Octave's load-path is no longer
-    subject to these expansions.
+  Function               | Replacement
+  -----------------------|------------------
+  `findstr`              | `strfind`
+  `flipdim`              | `flip`
+  `isdir`                | `isfolder` or `dir_in_loadpath`
+  `isequalwithequalnans` | `isequaln`
+  `isstr`                | `ischar`
+  `setstr`               | `char`
+  `strmatch`             | `strncmp` or `strcmp`
+  `strread`              | `textscan`
+  `textread`             | `textscan`
 
- ** New functions added in 5:
+
+### Deprecated functions and properties
 
-      clearvars
-      isfile
-      isfolder
-      matlab.lang.makeUniqueStrings
-      matlab.lang.makeValidName
-      movegui
-      movfun
-      movie
-      movmad
-      movmax
-      movmean
-      movmedian
-      movmin
-      movprod
-      movslice
-      movstd
-      movsum
-      movvar
-      openfig
-      ordeig
-      savefig
-      uitable
+The following functions and graphics properties have been deprecated
+in Octave 5 and will be removed from Octave 7 (or whatever version
+is the second major release after 5):
+
+- Functions
 
- ** Legacy functions.
+  Function                 | Replacement
+  -------------------------|-------------------
+  `output_max_field_width` | `output_precision`
+  `is_keyword`             | `iskeyword`
+
+- Graphics properties
+
+  Object           | Property      | Value
+  -----------------|---------------|------------
+  `text`           | `fontangle`   | `"oblique"`
+  `uibuttongroup`  | `fontangle`   | `"oblique"`
+  `uicontrol`      | `fontangle`   | `"oblique"`
+  `uipanel`        | `fontangle`   | `"oblique"`
+  `uitable`        | `fontangle`   | `"oblique"`
 
-    The following functions have been declared legacy functions which
-    means they are obsolete and should not be used in any new code.
-    Unlike deprecated functions, however, their removal from Octave has
-    not yet been scheduled.
+- Specifying `legend` position with a numeric argument is deprecated.
+  Use a string argument instead.
+
+- The environment variable used by `mkoctfile` for linker flags is now
+  `LDFLAGS` rather than `LFLAGS`.  `LFLAGS` is deprecated, and a warning
+  is emitted if is used, but it will continue to work.
+
+
+### Removed functions and properties
+
+The following functions and properties were deprecated in Octave 4.2
+and have been removed from Octave 5.
 
-      Function             | Replacement
-      ---------------------|------------------
-      findstr              | strfind
-      flipdim              | flip
-      isdir                | isfolder or dir_in_loadpath
-      isequalwithequalnans | isequaln
-      isstr                | ischar
-      setstr               | char
-      strmatch             | strncmp or strcmp
-      strread              | textscan
-      textread             | textscan
+- Functions
 
- ** Deprecated functions.
-
-    The following functions have been deprecated in Octave 5 and will
-    be removed from Octave 7 (or whatever version is the second major
-    release after 5):
+  Function               | Replacement
+  -----------------------|------------------
+  `bitmax`               | `flintmax`
+  `mahalanobis`          | `mahal` in Octave Forge statistics pkg
+  `md5sum`               | `hash`
+  `octave_config_info`   | `__octave_config_info__`
+  `onenormest`           | `normest1`
+  `sleep`                | `pause`
+  `usleep`               | `pause`
+  `wavread`              | `audioread`
+  `wavwrite`             | `audiowrite`
 
-      Function               | Replacement
-      -----------------------|------------------
-      output_max_field_width | output_precision
-
- ** The following functions were deprecated in Octave 4.2 and have been
-    removed from Octave 5.
+- Properties
 
-      Function             | Replacement
-      ---------------------|------------------
-      bitmax               | flintmax
-      mahalanobis          | mahal in Octave Forge statistics pkg
-      md5sum               | hash
-      octave_config_info   | __octave_config_info__
-      onenormest           | normest1
-      sleep                | pause
-      usleep               | pause
-      wavread              | audioread
-      wavwrite             | audiowrite
+  Object      | Property          | Value
+  ------------|-------------------|---------
+  `axes`      | `xaxislocation`   | `"zero"`
+              | `yaxislocation`   | `"zero"`
+  `hggroup`   | `erasemode`       |
+  `image`     | `erasemode`       |
+  `line`      | `erasemode`       |
+  `patch`     | `erasemode`       |
+  `patch`     | `normalmode`      |
+  `surface`   | `erasemode`       |
+  `surface`   | `normalmode`      |
+  `text`      | `erasemode`       |
 
- ** Deprecated graphics properties.
 
-    The following properties or allowed corresponding values have been
-    deprecated in Octave 5 and will be removed from Octave 7 (or
-    whatever version is the second major release after 5):
+### Alphabetical list of new functions added in 5
 
-      Object               | Property                | Value
-      ---------------------|-------------------------|-------------------
-      text                 | fontangle               | "oblique"
-      uibuttongroup        | fontangle               | "oblique"
-      uicontrol            | fontangle               | "oblique"
-      uipanel              | fontangle               | "oblique"
-      uitable              | fontangle               | "oblique"
-
- ** The following properties or allowed corresponding values were
-    deprecated in Octave 4.2 and have been removed from Octave 5:
+- `clearvars`
+- `isfile`
+- `isfolder`
+- `matlab.lang.makeUniqueStrings`
+- `matlab.lang.makeValidName`
+- `movegui`
+- `movfun`
+- `movie`
+- `movmad`
+- `movmax`
+- `movmean`
+- `movmedian`
+- `movmin`
+- `movprod`
+- `movslice`
+- `movstd`
+- `movsum`
+- `movvar`
+- `openfig`
+- `ordeig`
+- `savefig`
+- `uitable`
 
-      Object               | Property                | Value
-      ---------------------|-------------------------|-------------------
-      axes                 | xaxislocation           | "zero"
-                           | yaxislocation           | "zero"
-      hggroup              | erasemode               |
-      image                | erasemode               |
-      line                 | erasemode               |
-      patch                | erasemode               |
-      patch                | normalmode              |
-      surface              | erasemode               |
-      surface              | normalmode              |
-      text                 | erasemode               |
+
+### Old release news
 
- ** The C++ function is_keyword has been deprecated in favor of
-    iskeyword.  The old function will be removed two versions after 5.
-
----------------------------------------------------------
-
-See NEWS.4 for old news.
-
+- [Octave 4.4.x](NEWS-4.4.html) +- [Octave 4.2.x](NEWS-4.2.html) +- [Octave 4.0.x](NEWS-4.0.html) +- [Octave 3.8.x](NEWS-3.8.html) +- [Octave 3.6.x](NEWS-3.6.html) +- [Octave 3.4.x](NEWS-3.4.html) +- [Octave 3.2.x](NEWS-3.2.html) +- [Octave 3.0.x](NEWS-3.html) +- [Octave 2.x](NEWS-2.html) +- [Octave 1.x](NEWS-1.html)