[Scilab-users] Comparison of SCILAB to other Analytical Applications

[Tim Wescott]

On Mon, 2014-12-15 at 19:45 +0000, Beck, Michel wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
> 
> I work for a large Energy Company in North America and we are finally trying to get "scientific" in our choice of analytical software (for about 10-20 users).
> Would you please point me to sources where I can find information on the Pros and Cons of SCILAB to fill in the attached "RFI"?.

Speaking purely as a user of Scilab and a past user of Matlab:

* With Scilab you don't have to mess around with a license server.

* With Scilab you don't have to get budgetary approval for every new
"toolbox" (and if we're talking Matlab and 20 users, a toolbox costs as
much as a nice new car).

* Scilab integrates support for signal processing and control system
analysis much better than Matlab.

* The language that Scilab implements is much closer to being
object-oriented than competitors, without being obtrusive with it (it
still has it's quirks, but it's useful enough that I've made data-type
libraries in projects, e.g. for quaternion arithmetic).

It does have a downside that it has fewer flashy bells and whistles than
Matlab -- but most of the Matlab bells and whistles have more flash than
use, and Scilab seems to be finding good analogs for the really useful
ones.

-- 

Tim Wescott
www.wescottdesign.com
Control & Communications systems, circuit & software design.
Phone: 503.631.7815
Cell:  503.349.8432