Comparing Python to (free) Math languages/environments

Janko Hauser jhauser at ifm.uni-kiel.de
Thu Nov 18 08:54:47 EST 1999


siegfried.gonzi at kfunigraz.ac.at writes:

> No. I also, tried to get into Python. But it is too "administrative" and
> complicated. Than I came to Yorick. Yorick is ranked as a very good
> substitute for IDL and also Matlab. It is or better it should be very
> fast (compared to Matlab, Scilab or RLab or Octave). And it has stunnig
> graphic features (default).
> 
> What Yorick is lacking of is GUIs. This than, is a matter of taste. But
> for scientists, which only look for good code, should this be not an
> obstacle.

This is exactly the strength of this approach, to extend a general
scripting language with numerical capabilities. The connection between
other worlds, be it GUI, Databases, WEB, serialIO, OpenGL, fileformats
... is much cleaner and easier in Python than in all the other
systems. 

And then look how things like OO are implemented in Matlab or higher
rank arrays. It is right that the syntax is more verbose in NumPy than
in Matlab, but then this appeals to some as a good feature, too :-)

In the end I want to add, that NumPy does connect to the same graphics
engine like Yorick (Gist), so it should be possible to achieve the
same output.

__Janko
-- 
  Institut fuer Meereskunde             phone: 49-431-597 3989
  Dept. Theoretical Oceanography        fax  : 49-431-565876
  Duesternbrooker Weg 20                email: jhauser at ifm.uni-kiel.de
  24105 Kiel, Germany




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