Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
Request for comparisons of IDL and Matlab
IDL and Matlab Folks, I have just started working at a laboratory with some expertise in Matlab and none in IDL or PV-WAVE. I have been an IDL user for a decade and am trying to decide whether I should make the effort to get the scientists and programmers to think about using IDL. I would especially appreciate any input from people who have used the latest versions of both programming environments. Some of the features we will need: - ability to run on OpenVMS Alpha, Windows NT, possibly Unix - easy to develop GUIs - a robust set of mathematical and image processing tools - good performance I would appreciate any constructive input. Thanks. --Harvey ---- Harvey Rarback phone: (650)926-3963 Stanford Linear Accelerator Ctr fax: (650)926-4100 PO Box 4349, M/S 69 home phone: (650)560-9111 Stanford, CA 94309-0210 rarback@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu "We need more good people. We have enough smart people." Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Re: Request for comparisons of IDL and Matlab
Harvey Rarback (rarback@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu) writes: > I got two responses from people who had used both environments and were > clear that, although both languages could do what we need, Matlab was > easier to use and had more tools and better support. Better support than what? This newsgroup!? Nah. :-) David ---------------------------------------------------------- David Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com Phone: 970-221-0438, Toll-Free Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155 Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Last week I wrote in message <6tptdg$n5l$1@nntp.Stanford.EDU>... > I have just started working at a laboratory with some expertise in Matlab and > none in IDL or PV-WAVE. I have been an IDL user for a decade and am > trying to decide whether I should make the effort to get the scientists and > programmers to think about using IDL. I would especially appreciate any > input from people who have used the latest versions of both programming > environments. > > Some of the features we will need: > > - ability to run on OpenVMS Alpha, Windows NT, possibly Unix > - easy to develop GUIs > - a robust set of mathematical and image processing tools > - good performance I got two responses from people who had used both environments and were clear that, although both languages could do what we need, Matlab was easier to use and had more tools and better support. Do any users of IDL feel otherwise? --Harvey ---- Harvey Rarback phone: (650)926-3963 Stanford Linear Accelerator Ctr fax: (650)926-4100 PO Box 4349, M/S 69 home phone: (650)560-9111 Stanford, CA 94309-0210 rarback@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu "We need more good people. We have enough smart people." Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Anthony Wilson wrote in message <6ub8fb$f4b$1@pr1.plk.af.mil>... > As a Macintosh user, I am in the process of converting from Matlab to IDL. > In using both environments(Matlab 5.0, IDL 5.1), I have seen the following > based on what you asked for: > > >> - ability to run on OpenVMS Alpha, Windows NT, possibly Unix > > not sure about this for Matlab matlab works on them and many others. not sure about idl. see http://www.mathworks.com/products/matrix/ >> - easy to develop GUIs > > Matlab's GUI creation is simple enough. It has a GUI tool that allows the > user to create the window, text boxes, graphic boxes, etc via drag and drop. personally, i hate guide (the matlab gui tool) and all other automagic tools. i like coding things myself. (1) i don't trust them, (2) i understand things a lot better when i do them myself, analogous to the difference between memorizing an equation and being able to derive it. >> - a robust set of mathematical and image processing tools > > In looking at both software packages, I noticed that IDL has better built > support for doing image processing and mathematical tools as compared to the > base package of Matlab. In order to get comparable performance from Matlab, > you will have to purchase the Image Processing Toolbox($$). $900 for pcs, 2k for unix. >> - good performance > > Both have comparable performance. I base this on some neural network code > that I wrote for both packages. > > -anthony wilson i've written code in both, and i much prefer matlab. however, that's speaking mainly from a programming point of view. imho, the idl language is an abortion. functions have arguments (normal) and keywords (not normal). the syntax is horrendous. otoh, in my limited use of envi, which is written in idl, there seem to be some things that envi does (presumably in idl, but possibly in c, c++ or fortran) much better than matlab, namely dealing with images (speed, smooth graphics). overall, i'd **DEFINITELY** pick matlab.