RFD: comp.soft-sys.octave
Himanshu Singh Chauhan
unmoderated group comp.soft-sys.octave
This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, comp.soft-sys.octave.
NEWSGROUPS LINE:
comp.soft-sys.octave (TBD)
RATIONALE: comp.soft-sys.octave
This new newsgroup "comp.soft-sys.octave" will be a forum for discussing
application and development issues related to the use of GNU Octave, the
free, open-source software package for doing numerical computations. GNU
Octave is very much similar to the commercial application "MATLAB" (from
the MathWorks) in its syntax and function.
GNU Octave does not have any single roof for discussion. New users
are daunted at the very onset of their exposure to Octave due to its
complexity (e.g., the 350 page manual). This group will serve as a
central, standardized meeting place for the discussion of GNU Octave which
will allow the exchange of ideas and flow of information on all aspects of
GNU Octave by users of all experience levels.
The establishment of a GNU Octave usenet newsgroup will leverage the
NNTP standard, which is a commercially independent and well-established
standard that will provide a forum that is free from manipulation and
advertisement (unlike many web-based forums) for all discussion of
GNU Octave and will be easily interfaced from any usenet news client
application.
Because of Octave's syntactical resemblance to MATLAB(R) (from Mathworks,
Inc.), users read the Matlab newsgroup (comp.soft-sys.matlab) to watch
for a look-alike solution to their problems. Thus the establishment of a
separate Octave newsgroup will partition Octave issues from Matlab issues
and reduce off-topic questions in the Matlab newsgroup. Related questions
have also appeared in comp.dsp
Development issues such as crashes and errors that might not otherwise be
reported can be posted here. Developers can scan the group for problems
and post possible fixes or workarounds.
A mailing list exists for GNU Octave (help-...@octave.org), but it is
busy with development-related tasks. The daily general and application-
specific issues can be more accurately dealt with a separate newsgroup
for GNU Octave.
The name comp.soft-sys.octave seems to be an appropriate choice.
This newgroup is meant for quick exchange of information about GNU Octave
so the moderation of the group isn't necessary.
CHARTER: comp.soft-sys.octave
General GNU Octave questions and its application to specific fields such
as digital signal processing, digital communications, medical imaging,
etc., as well as development issues such as bugs, fixes, workarounds,
etc., in the main Octave kernel as well as developer- and user-supplied
scripts (.m files) which extend Octave's functionality.
The general issues include:
* Addressing new user queries.
* Exchange of source code in public domain, especially .m scripts.
* Addressing the applications of GNU Octave in various fields.
Usage Specific in fields like Signal Processing:
* Exchange of public domain source code to strengthen the signal
processing part of GNU Octave.
* Addressing the beginner to advanced queries regarding various signal
processing related function available with GNU Octave, as built-in or
as separate packages.
END CHARTER.
PROCEDURE:
The newsgroup creation process is currently undergoing revision. Please
refer to the newsgroup creation policies listed here:
http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=policies:proposals
All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.
DISTRIBUTION:
This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.soft-sys.matlab
PROPONENT:
Himanshu Singh Chauhan <hs.ch...@gmail.com>
HISTORY:
2006-03-15 Reformatted by Tim Skirvin for posting as an RFD.
2006-03-14 Submitted by Himanshu Singh Chauhan.
Jim Riley
Chauhan) wrote:
> REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
> unmoderated group comp.soft-sys.octave
>
>This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
>unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, comp.soft-sys.octave.
>This new newsgroup "comp.soft-sys.octave" will be a forum for discussing
>application and development issues related to the use of GNU Octave, the
>free, open-source software package for doing numerical computations. GNU
>Octave is very much similar to the commercial application "MATLAB" (from
>the MathWorks) in its syntax and function.
Does Octave existing in any implementations other than by GNU or FSF?
>DISTRIBUTION:
>
>This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
>
> news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.soft-sys.matlab
Did you consider any application newsgroups where Octave would be
particularly useful?
--
Jim Riley
Russ Allbery
>> This new newsgroup "comp.soft-sys.octave" will be a forum for discussing
>> application and development issues related to the use of GNU Octave, the
>> free, open-source software package for doing numerical computations. GNU
>> Octave is very much similar to the commercial application "MATLAB" (from
>> the MathWorks) in its syntax and function.
> Does Octave existing in any implementations other than by GNU or FSF?
It's the name of the GNU package, so I doubt it.
This is kind of an interesting proposal since I don't know what group
you'd use to talk about Octave right now. There isn't really a comp.math
group, and discussion of specific GNU Octave issues would seem too
specialized to be on-topic in sci.math (although I don't read sci.math, so
I could be wrong about that). I suppose you could talk about it in
comp.soft-sys.matlab, which is the closest similar application, but I
imagine that would get rather annoying for the Matlab users fairly quickly
and it isn't really on-topic.
--
Russ Allbery (r...@stanford.edu) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
hs.ch...@gmail.com
Jim Riley wrote:
>
> Does Octave existing in any implementations other than by GNU or FSF?
>
In its earlier release it wasn't. But later Octave was made part of
GNU. And thus
is GNU Octave.
.
> >DISTRIBUTION:
> >
> >This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
> >
> > news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.soft-sys.matlab
>
> Did you consider any application newsgroups where Octave would be
> particularly useful?
This RFD has also been posted to comp.dsp, comp.speech.research
regards
--Himanshu
hs.ch...@gmail.com
Russ Allbery wrote:
>
> This is kind of an interesting proposal since I don't know what group
> you'd use to talk about Octave right now. There isn't really a comp.math
> group, and discussion of specific GNU Octave issues would seem too
> specialized to be on-topic in sci.math (although I don't read sci.math, so
> I could be wrong about that). I suppose you could talk about it in
> comp.soft-sys.matlab, which is the closest similar application, but I
> imagine that would get rather annoying for the Matlab users fairly quickly
> and it isn't really on-topic.
>
> --
> Russ Allbery (r...@stanford.edu) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
As said, one of the reason for proposing this new group is that Octave
users
visit comp.soft-sys.matlab for __Look-alike__ solution to their
problem. Thats
because some degree of synctactic and functional compatibility of
MATLAB
and Octave. If more and more questions are asked on matlab group about
octave,
that definitely be annoying to our fellow members at matlab group. So
its better
to split Octave related discussions in an Octave specific group like,
comp.soft-sys.octave.
regards
--Himanshu
J.V.Ashby
There's occasionally discussion of matlab and similar systems (e.g.
octave and scilab) in sci.math.num-analysis.
john
Doug Freyburger
>
> This is kind of an interesting proposal since I don't know what group
> you'd use to talk about Octave right now.
There's plenty of discussion about it on the Linux Debian
developer groups but they seem to be about its code not
about its use. There are also discussions in an assortment
of languages.
> There isn't really a comp.math
> group, and discussion of specific GNU Octave issues would seem too
> specialized to be on-topic in sci.math (although I don't read sci.math, so
> I could be wrong about that). I suppose you could talk about it in
> comp.soft-sys.matlab, which is the closest similar application, but I
> imagine that would get rather annoying for the Matlab users fairly quickly
> and it isn't really on-topic.
If the group goes through then Octave becomes off-topic on
the Matlab group, but until then since it's the nearest match
it's as close to on-topic as I could see in a few minutes of
searches. It made sense to cross-post there.
hs.ch...@gmail.com
Doug Freyburger wrote:
> Russ Allbery wrote:
> >
> > This is kind of an interesting proposal since I don't know what group
> > you'd use to talk about Octave right now.
>
> There's plenty of discussion about it on the Linux Debian
> developer groups but they seem to be about its code not
> about its use. There are also discussions in an assortment
> of languages.
Yes. That's the point. The discussion is there on several mailing
lists.
But the discussion is firstly, scattered all over the net. No central
place
to hang around for Octave application specific discussion. Secondly,
the mailing
lists tend toward the intrinsic parts of Octave.
What do you people think about the hierarchy?
comp.soft-sys.octave - right place ? Right name?
regards
--Himanshu
Tim Skirvin
>>> This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
>>> news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, comp.soft-sys.matlab
>> Did you consider any application newsgroups where Octave would be
>> particularly useful?
> This RFD has also been posted to comp.dsp, comp.speech.research
My apologies for missing them the first time. (And
comp.os.linux.development.apps, too.)
- Tim Skirvin (sk...@big-8.org)
Chair, Big-8 Management Board
--
http://www.big-8.org/ Big-8 Management Board
http://www.killfile.org/~tskirvin/ Skirv's Homepage <FISH>< <*>
Martin X. Moleski, SJ
<1147851827.6...@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:
>This RFD has also been posted to comp.dsp, comp.speech.research
You should list those groups in the next version of the RFD.
Thanks.
Marty
Martin X. Moleski, SJ
<1147880193....@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>:
>What do you people think about the hierarchy?
>comp.soft-sys.octave - right place ? Right name?
It looks to me like these are the present comp.soft-sys newsgroups:
comp.soft-sys.ace ACE programming, porting, and systems.
comp.soft-sys.andrew The Andrew system from CMU.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.appware Novell's visual development environment.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.dynasty Dynasty Development.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.forte Discussion of Forte development software.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.uniface Uniface Client/Server App Development.
comp.soft-sys.business.sap Discussion forum on SAP software.
comp.soft-sys.dce The Distributed Computing Environment (DCE).
comp.soft-sys.gis.esri ESRI GIS software and system implementation.
comp.soft-sys.khoros The Khoros X11 visualization system.
comp.soft-sys.math.maple Maple computer mathematics discussion group.
comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica Mathematica discussion group. (Moderated)
comp.soft-sys.math.scilab Scientific software package Scilab.
comp.soft-sys.matlab The MathWorks calculation and visualization package.
comp.soft-sys.middleware.bea-tuxedo Technical forum on BEA TUXEDO software.
(Moderated)
comp.soft-sys.middleware.opendoc OpenDoc and its related technologies.
comp.soft-sys.nextstep The NeXTstep computing environment.
comp.soft-sys.powerbuilder Application development tools from PowerSoft.
comp.soft-sys.ptolemy The Ptolemy simulation/code generation environment.
comp.soft-sys.sas The SAS statistics package.
comp.soft-sys.shazam The SHAZAM econometrics computer program.
comp.soft-sys.stat.spss The statistical program package SPSS.
comp.soft-sys.stat.systat The statistical program package SYSTAT.
comp.soft-sys.wxwindows Discussions related to wxWindows framework.
I scrolled through the rest of the comp.* hierarchy. I didn't see a better
spot for it (not saying that there isn't).
Marty
Jim Riley
>Jim Riley <jim...@pipeline.com> writes:
>> hs.ch...@gmail.com (Himanshu Singh Chauhan) wrote:
>
>>> This new newsgroup "comp.soft-sys.octave" will be a forum for discussing
>>> application and development issues related to the use of GNU Octave, the
>>> free, open-source software package for doing numerical computations. GNU
>>> Octave is very much similar to the commercial application "MATLAB" (from
>>> the MathWorks) in its syntax and function.
>
>> Does Octave existing in any implementations other than by GNU or FSF?
>
>It's the name of the GNU package, so I doubt it.
I was wondering whether it should have been referred to as "Octave",
perhaps after a first reference. Does the "GNU" imply that it only works
on a GNU platform?
>This is kind of an interesting proposal since I don't know what group
>you'd use to talk about Octave right now. There isn't really a comp.math
>group, and discussion of specific GNU Octave issues would seem too
>specialized to be on-topic in sci.math (although I don't read sci.math, so
>I could be wrong about that). I suppose you could talk about it in
>comp.soft-sys.matlab, which is the closest similar application, but I
>imagine that would get rather annoying for the Matlab users fairly quickly
>and it isn't really on-topic.
I meant "application" in the sense of fields or types of problems that
Octave was used for. I wasn't thinking of terms of whether the newsgroups
would be suitable for discussion of Octave, but rather there would be
participants in those groups interested in an Octave newsgroup (or at least
having the RFD cross-posted).
--
Jim Riley
Randy Yates
--RY
Russ Allbery
> On Tue, 16 May 2006 20:05:27 -0700, Russ Allbery <r...@stanford.edu> wrote:
>> It's the name of the GNU package, so I doubt it.
> I was wondering whether it should have been referred to as "Octave",
> perhaps after a first reference. Does the "GNU" imply that it only
> works on a GNU platform?
No, it should build on pretty much any Unix platform, and may well work on
Windows for all that I know. We have it installed here at Stanford; it's
not quite as useful as Matlab, and since we have a license for Matlab most
of our users use it instead, but it has the significant advantage of being
free.
> I meant "application" in the sense of fields or types of problems that
> Octave was used for. I wasn't thinking of terms of whether the
> newsgroups would be suitable for discussion of Octave, but rather there
> would be participants in those groups interested in an Octave newsgroup
> (or at least having the RFD cross-posted).
Oh! It's a high-level mathematics programming language, so it's used for
various mathematics and engineering applications. Numerical experiments,
linear programming, plotting, that sort of thing.
ashish.is...@gmail.com
Randy Yates wrote:
> Sounds like a good idea to me!
>
> --RY
I liked the idea too. The group line, i think, is also perfectly fine.
Sitting at
right place with its contemporaries.
--Ashish
Vito Kuhn
> CHARTER: comp.soft-sys.octave
>
> General GNU Octave questions and its application to specific fields
> such as digital signal processing, digital communications, medical
> imaging, etc., as well as development issues such as bugs, fixes,
> workarounds, etc., in the main Octave kernel as well as developer-
> and user-supplied scripts (.m files) which extend Octave's
> functionality.
>
> The general issues include:
>
> * Addressing new user queries.
> * Exchange of source code in public domain, especially .m scripts.
> * Addressing the applications of GNU Octave in various fields.
>
> Usage Specific in fields like Signal Processing:
>
> * Exchange of public domain source code to strengthen the signal
> processing part of GNU Octave.
> * Addressing the beginner to advanced queries regarding various
> signal processing related function available with GNU Octave, as
> built-in or as separate packages.
>
> END CHARTER.
Your charter should address the issue of advertising. Are they or AREN'T
THEY allowed? I recommend an outright ban on ALL ads, but you're the
proponent and it's your decision to make.
Lou
Himanshu wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Sorry for this multipost (for whose who have subscription to
> comp.soft-sys.matlab, news.announce.newgroups). This RFD had to appear
> in this group as well but was some how missed.
>
> Please join the discussion for this new group for GNU Octave.
>
>
> REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
> unmoderated group comp.soft-sys.octave
>
> This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
> unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, comp.soft-sys.octave.
>
>
> comp.soft-sys.octave (TBD)
I would be for this if the group were moderated. I've seen too many
unmoderated groups become a mess when a few difficult people
practically take them over by posting their own peculiar junk messages,
arguing with everyone personally, going off-topic a lot, villifying
people, etc., etc.
Do this as a moderated group with the moderator's assignment to uphold
the goals you've outlined and you will have a good group. Do it as
unmoderated and you are inviting a mess IMHO.
-- Lou Pecora
taru...@gmail.com
green signal. Here at our organization too, the forest economics people
have used it and feel the need for a platform, a dedicated one to share
the ideas etc.
Looking forward to see this idea take off soon.
Cheers
-Tarun
Tim Skirvin
> NEWSGROUPS LINE:
> comp.soft-sys.octave (TBD)
This really needs a description...
Martin X. Moleski, SJ
<tskirvin.20060518215835$35...@cairo.ks.uiuc.edu>:
>hs.ch...@gmail.com (Himanshu Singh Chauhan) writes:
>> NEWSGROUPS LINE:
>> (TBD)
> This really needs a description...
Picking key words out of the charter:
comp.soft-sys.octave Applications, development, workarounds, scripts.
That's 72 characters by my count.
Marty
Asbjørn Sæbø
> [...]
> I was wondering whether it should have been referred to as "Octave",
> perhaps after a first reference.
A good idea, I would say.
> Does the "GNU" imply that it only works
> on a GNU platform?
"Octave currently runs on Unix-like systems, OS/2, and Windows NT/95
(using the gnu-win32 tools from Cygnus Support). It should be possible
to make Octave work on other systems as well."
http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/FAQ.html#SEC16
Asbjørn
--
Asbjørn Sæbø
Q2S - Centre for Quantifiable Quality of Service in Communication Systems
http://www.q2s.ntnu.no/~asbjs/
Asbjørn Sæbø
> REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
> unmoderated group comp.soft-sys.octave
>
> This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of the
> unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, comp.soft-sys.octave.
> [...]
Such a group would be a Good Thing (TM). I have been missing it.
Thomas Lee
<tski...@killfile.org> writes
>hs.ch...@gmail.com (Himanshu Singh Chauhan) writes:
>
>> NEWSGROUPS LINE:
>> comp.soft-sys.octave (TBD)
>
> This really needs a description...
And if possible, the role if any of advertising in the proposed group.
--
Thomas Lee
(t...@psp.co.uk)
Himanshu Chauhan
Lou wrote:
> > REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
> > unmoderated group comp.soft-sys.octave
> >
> unmoderated groups become a mess when a few difficult people
> practically take them over by posting their own peculiar junk messages,
> arguing with everyone personally, going off-topic a lot, villifying
> people, etc., etc.
>
But my point in going with unmoderated is to bring down the response
time as low as possible.
Otherwise people can use mailing lists.
regards
--Himanshu
Doug Freyburger
> hs.ch...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> >What do you people think about the hierarchy?
> >comp.soft-sys.octave - right place ? Right name?
>
> It looks to me like these are the present comp.soft-sys newsgroups:
>
> comp.soft-sys.ace ACE programming, porting, and systems.
> comp.soft-sys.wxwindows Discussions related to wxWindows framework.
>
> I scrolled through the rest of the comp.* hierarchy. I didn't see a better
> spot for it (not saying that there isn't).
Depends on how wide you want to throw the net. Within the Big-8
the comp.soft-sys seems best. Outside the Big-8 there are GNU
and Linux/Debian hierarchies that might work at least as well.
Jim Riley
> This really needs a description...
>> NEWSGROUPS LINE:
Based on http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/, perhaps:
comp.soft-sys.octave GNU Octave, language for numerical computations.
--
Jim Riley