Auteur : http://www.octave.org/
Date : 28 June 2004 (28 June 2004)
Licence : GNU General Public License
Logiciel : Octave (Notice Framasoft)

Octave

In my search for mathematics softwares, Octave pops-up in a dull and gray internet day. It is a GNU/GPL software, but a little too much Spartan (it should be said).

According to Internet search, it would be a MatLab clone (for those who know it)...

Actually, it is a high-level programming language, mainly intended for numerical calculations.

It provides a command line interface supposed-to-be "user-friendly" (as authors wrote it, and we suppose that it could for those which know it):

to solve linear and non-linear numerical math problems,
and to carry out other numerical calculations and experiments by using an Octave specific language, which is, in most of cases, Matlab compatible.

It can also be used as batchs programming language (honestly, I did not understand clearly how, because handbook has 375 pages and as a lot of human beings i’m quite lazzy).

Octave has extended tools for:

solving supposed-to-be "common" linear algebra numerical problems,
finding roots for non-linear equations,
calculating supposed-to-be "common" integration functions,
manipulating polynomials items,
and integrating supposed-to-be differential and differential-algebraic equations.

It is extensible and "customisable" with: * functions user defined and written in Octave specific language, * or in dynamic object executable which can be written with C++, C, FORTRAN, or other programming languages.

Nota Bene:

to tell the truth, I can only say some "mmm" as the basic user I am, because interface is too rejecting for me poor basic human being,
moreover, I sincerely wonder what the authors inted to communicate, when they repeat the word "common" near everywhere in their site,
nevertheless, for somebody who well knows at the same time, mathematics and MatLab software, that seems to be a good multiplate-forms software. It’s a pity that it is obviously the only public concerned...
and i hope that, one day, it will have an actually user-friendly "GUI" (as geeks say).