Technical News

[Michaël Baudin]

Hi,

We recently created several wiki pages on technical topics.

* The wiki page :

http://wiki.scilab.org/Non_linear_optimization_for_parameter_fitting_example 


gives a particular example of nonlinear optimization. We try to find the 
parameters of a a differential equation which best fit some experimental 
data. This was the opportunity to test the fminsearch, optim, derivative 
and leastsq functions in a practical case. Thanks to Marcio Barbalho for 
providing this example.



  * Several users asked for guidance to solve linear programming 
problem. The wiki page :

http://wiki.scilab.org/Linear_Programming_Examples_in_Scilab

presents 6 examples where we solve linear programs with karmarkar and 
the linpro functions. We present classical techniques of problem 
transformations to solve the feasibility problem, to manage linear 
inequalities and to manage non-positive variables. Thank to Reinaldo 
Golmia Dante for providing some of the examples.



  * A question that was often raised is the equivalence between Scilab 
toolboxes and Matlab toolboxes. On the wiki page :

http://wiki.scilab.org/Matlab_Toolboxes_in_Scilab

we present the list of Matlab toolboxes and analyse the Scilab toolboxes 
which best fit. We give the name of the Matlab module, the name of one 
or more equivalent modules and the degree of coverage of the Scilab 
modules with respect to Matlab.



* We are sometimes confused by the rich set of data structures available 
in Scilab. The most common question is that we have to select between 
the tlist, mlist or struct, and do not know which one to choose. The 
section 3.12 of "Programming in Scilab" presents a comparison of these 
data types:

http://forge.scilab.org/index.php/p/docprogscilab/downloads/

We compare the various data types that Scilab offer. We present a figure 
which presents an overview of these data types and discuss their 
advantages.



  * The wiki page :

http://wiki.scilab.org/Finite_Volumes_in_Scilab

presents an overview of the finite volume tools which are available in 
the Scilab environment. We present the PDE block in XCos and several 
Scilab scripts which are available over the internet on this topic.


Best regards,

Michaël Baudin

-- 
Michaël Baudin
Ingénieur de développement
michael.baudin at scilab.org
-------------------------
Consortium Scilab - Digiteo
Domaine de Voluceau - Rocquencourt
B.P. 105 - 78153 Le Chesnay Cedex
Tel. : 01 39 63 56 87 - Fax : 01 39 63 55 94