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by fixxer 4754 days ago
> Matlab is unique in its expressiveness for numerical and matrix computation

It really isn't. http://wiki.scipy.org/NumPy_for_Matlab_Users

1 comments

it is.

I read that link already, in fact used it as a reference when I did convert from Matlab to python. I converted back when I realized that in spite of the apparent syntactic similarities, matlab is still very different to scipy.

In matlab, everything is a matrix. The only "gotchas" when it comes to types, is that

  f = X(X > 0)
and

  f = X(double(X > 0))
give different answers because logical indexing requires actual logical type. Apart from this, you will almost never have to do type conversions in matlab.

Python arrays are not scipy matrices or arrays. And a scipy 1 x n array is not a matrix.

All these little things add up to more time spent thinking about programming and less about mathematics.

Don't think of me as some biased matlab fanatic.

I am a grad student, and I found the appeal of python as strong as those who advocate it as a substitute for matlab. The difference is that when it came down to doing my actual work, I just couldn't do it as easily in python. I am the student whose interests you claim to be advocating, and I'm explaining why I, and so many others, make the choice of matlab.

Oh well... easy for me, hard for you. Best of luck! :)