I've used Octave and Sage. Octave is very, very close to Matlab. If you want to run Matlab code without buying Matlab, Octave is what you want. The graphics aren't as polished, but otherwise it seems like a solid piece of software. I've used it in my research to do metacommunity analysis.
Sage is a very different animal, and I am absolutely in love with it. Why? First of all, the syntax. Sage is based on Python (although it incorporates other programs, like Octave and R) and retains Python's accessibility and clarity. How do you plot x^2? plot(x^2). If you want to specify a plotting range, use plot(x^2, (x,-5,5)) or whatever. You can create an animation in two lines, one of which is just the show() command. My Math for Life Scientists students (mostly lower-division bio students at UCLA) create slider-driven interactive plots on their first day in lab. I created a complex interactive that does dynamic simulation, vector fields, equilbria and nullclines 3 or 4 weeks after starting to use Sage. A student of mine put together some very useful network weight computation and visualization code in a weekend, about 3 weeks after he started using Sage. (He was moderately proficient in Matlab and knew a little R before starting; I knew the basics of those languages and had a working knowledge of C++ but was not an expert programmer by any means.) In no other programming environment that I have ever seen can you go so far so fast. The other great thing about Sage is that it will do pretty much anything. You can simulate differential equation models (much more easily than in Matlab or R.) You can do symbolic work, like in Mathematica or Maple. You can plot things. You can study networks. And you can do anything Python can do. If Sage doesn't do what you want but there's a Python library for it (and there usually is), you're good to go. (This is easiest on a Linux or Mac system; you may be able to install packages on the virtual machine that Sage runs on in Windows but I've never tried it.) And if you or your students are using Sage a lot, you can set up a server for them to use. Since you typically use Sage inside a web browser, this is indistinguishable from running it on your own computer and saves the trouble of installation. I'm happy to answer any Sage questions people may have. Jane Shevtsov On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 6:13 PM, Malcolm McCallum < [email protected]> wrote: > On a whim, I did a google search for "open source version of matlab" > and was shocked to see just how many supposed open equivalents there > were! > > Does anyone know enough about these to evaluate which they think is > the best or the pluses and minuses of these different free > alternatives? > > GNU Octave (http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/) > FreeMat (http://freemat.sourceforge.net/) > Scilab (http://scilab.org/) > Sage (http://www.sagemath.org) > > If you want to email me directly, I can post a follow up summary. > M > > -- > Malcolm L. McCallum, PHD, REP > Department of Environmental Studies > University of Illinois at Springfield > > Managing Editor, > Herpetological Conservation and Biology > > “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich > array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a > many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature > lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share > as Americans.” > -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of > 1973 into law. > > "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - > Allan Nation > > 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert > 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, > and pollution. > 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction > MAY help restore populations. > 2022: Soylent Green is People! > > The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) > Wealth w/o work > Pleasure w/o conscience > Knowledge w/o character > Commerce w/o morality > Science w/o humanity > Worship w/o sacrifice > Politics w/o principle > > Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any > attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may > contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized > review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not > the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and > destroy all copies of the original message. > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov, Ph.D. Mathematical Biology Curriculum Writer, UCLA co-founder, www.worldbeyondborders.org “Those who say it cannot be done should not interfere with those who are doing it.” --attributed to Robert Heinlein, George Bernard Shaw and others
