[fafner]

I wish they'd rather use python or Julia. GNU Octave is great. But as a clone of Matlab it's constraint by compatibility and doomed to always be second* and at worst an enabler for Matlab. I'd rather break the dominance that Matlab has in many fields and replace it with free software.

* There are a few aspects where it is better. For example I believe the variable editor introduced one or two releases ago is nicer as it allows inline evaluation.

[marmaduke]

> rather use python or Julia .. break the dominance that Matlab has in many fields and replace it with free software

I still think Octave has a niche to fill for students and HPC where software engineering (package management, compilation etc) is of insufficient concern.