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Request for comparisons of IDL and Matlab [message #12876] Wed, 16 September 1998 00:00 Go to next message
Harvey Rarback is currently offline  Harvey Rarback
Messages: 24
Registered: September 1998
Junior Member
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 [message #12942 is a reply to message #12876] Wed, 23 September 1998 00:00 Go to previous message
Steve Johnson is currently offline  Steve Johnson
Messages: 1
Registered: September 1998
Junior Member
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.
Re: Request for comparisons of IDL and Matlab [message #12950 is a reply to message #12876] Tue, 22 September 1998 00:00 Go to previous message
davidf is currently offline  davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
Senior Member
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/
Re: Request for comparisons of IDL and Matlab [message #12954 is a reply to message #12876] Tue, 22 September 1998 00:00 Go to previous message
Harvey Rarback is currently offline  Harvey Rarback
Messages: 24
Registered: September 1998
Junior Member
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
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