[Scilab-users] News: Scilab 6 Beta, VISA Toolbox, Embedded World 2016

Tue Feb 16 11:55:35 CET 2016

Hello

Thank you for this release and the improvements this Scilab version
contains.

I have however a major concern with the change of behaviour of the addition
or subtraction of a null matrix to another matrix. As explained in the
release notes, []+a will now result in [] whereas it resulted in a in
previous versions.

This means that developments made under older Scilab versions will have to
be adapted to Scilab 6.0. This is potentially a huge task, since all
additions or subtractions in the programs have a priori to be checked.
Needless to say, additions and subtractions are very pervasive operations
in numerical programs. And since all additions and subtractions cannot be
checked in a systematic way (in my toolbox, I have more than 20 000 of
them!), the needed modifications will be made over a long period of time,
at the rhythm of the discovery of bugs by a developer or its users.

More worrying still, not all additions or subtractions involving null
matrices will generate errors when switching from Scilab 5 or older to
Scilab 6: for example, z=size([a+1 y],1) applied to the null matrix a will
simply add 1 in Scilab 6 to the result of Scilab 5, without generating
errors. The attentive user will be alerted by the warning message generated
by Scilab 6, but the inattentive one may not notice it or fully understand
its consequences. So it may lead some users to generate wrong results
without being aware of it, which should be very embarrassing for the
provider of the programs used and for Scilab-enterprises itself.

Another problem will come from users sticking to Scilab older versions: as
for me I have regularly e-mails from users that work for a reason or
another on old Scilab versions (5.3.3 at the moment for instance): avoiding
problems to these users will constrain the adaptation, prevent from using
all capabilities of Scilab and complicate the code. With my example, it
will be necessary to introduce a conditional such as:

if isempty(x) then

   z=size(y,1)+1

else

   z=size([a y],1)

end

And this will apply to new programs as well, which will need so much care
that, I fear, some cases will be missed by even the most careful
programmer. And in this case users working with older Scilab versions will
not even be alerted by a warning message.

Moreover, considering the importance of the change, it is all the more
surprising that it has not been announced in advance, as was the –good–
practice for previous changes, even minor (such as the replacement of x^n
by x .^n when x was a vector, a change that a) affected much less numerous
lines of code b) did entail a simple replacement of some ^ by .^ c) had no
side effect).

Don’t other Scilab users share my concern?

Regards

Éric.

PS: I find a little bit provocative the sentence in the release notes: “To
simplify the transition of your code base during beta, a specific warning
is issued when such operation is detected”. With a little exaggeration, it
sounds like digging the Great canyon and saying to people now separated by
it: to help you, we will give you beach shovels so that you can build a
bridge between the two rivers of the canyon...

2016-02-15 16:35 GMT+01:00 Yann DEBRAY <yann.debray at scilab-enterprises.com>:

> Hello Scilab user,
>
> It has been a while since we last shared news with you. Here are some
> recent updates we hope you will like.
> Scilab 6 Beta
>
> Scilab 6.0 is a major new release of Scilab, the open source modeling &
> simulation platform. This beta version is a preview for all users,
> commercial as well as community.
>
> *What's new: *
>
> --> New computation core enabling bigger data sets
> --> Improved Xcos allowing larger models
> --> Utilities for development productivity (debugger, profiler and
> coverage)
>
> To provide relevant informations to the user, we also introduced a new
> view called "Newsfeed".
> The release will come soon, so feel free to give us feedback about your
> experience.
>
> Find out more <http://www.scilab.org/community/news/scilab-6-beta-1>
>
> Signal acquisition and instrument control
> with the Scilab VISA Toolbox (beta version) In partnership with National
> Instruments, we have developed a Scilab interface for measurement devices
> from leading manufacturers (National Instruments, Agilent/HP, ... )
>
> Here is the first version of this VISA toolbox for signal acquisition and
> instrument control. This is a beta version: your feedbacks are welcome.
>
> The Virtual Instrument Software Architecture <https://www.ni.com/visa/> (VISA)
> is a standard for configuring, programming, and troubleshooting
> instrumentation systems comprising GPIB, VXI, PXI, Serial, Ethernet, and/or
> USB interfaces. VISA provides the programming interface between the
> hardware and development environments.
>
> Find out more <http://www.scilab.org/scilab/modules/visa-toolbox>
>
> Event Embedded World // 23-25 February 2016, Nuremberg
>
> Starting with the largest embedded systems' event of the year : Embedded
> World 2016 <https://www.embedded-world.de/en>
> 23 - 25 February 2016 in Nuremberg, Germany
>
> We will be present on the booth of Evidence (Hall 4 / 4-545
> <https://www.embedded-world.de/en/ausstellerprodukte/embwld16/exhibitor-18047504/evidence-srl>
> *)* and Emmtrix (Hall 4A, booth 520d
> <https://www.embedded-world.de/en/ausstellerprodukte/embwld16/exhibitor-19553455/emmtrix-technologies>
> *)*
>
> Scilab has many applications in the field of embedded systems :
> --> post-processing of test data
> --> automation of tasks
> --> prototyping of control algorithms
> --> identification of systems parameter
> --> simulation of control systems
> --> embedded code generation
>
> Here are some use cases of Scilab in this field, from our last ScilabTEC :
>
>
> <http://www.scilab.org/fr/community/scilabtec/2015/ZYNQ-7000-High-Performance-Electric-Drive-and-Silicon-Carbide-Multilevel-inverter-with-SCILAB-Hardware-in-the-loop>
>
>    - ZYNQ-7000 High Performance Electric Drive and Silicon Carbide
>    Multilevel inverter with Scilab Hardware-in-the-loop
>    <http://www.scilab.org/fr/community/scilabtec/2015/ZYNQ-7000-High-Performance-Electric-Drive-and-Silicon-Carbide-Multilevel-inverter-with-SCILAB-Hardware-in-the-loop>
>    - E4Coder on Scilab: State Machines simulation and GUI prototyping
>    <http://www.scilab.org/fr/community/scilabtec/2015/E4Coder-on-Scilab-State-Machines-simulation-and-GUI-prototyping-for-Scilab-5.x>
>    - Can programming of multi-core systems be easier, please?
>    <http://www.scilab.org/fr/community/scilabtec/2015/Can-programming-of-multi-core-systems-be-easier-please-The-ALMA-Approach>
>    - Real-time control and measurement applications
>    <http://www.scilab.org/fr/community/scilabtec/2015/Utilizing-Scilab-and-Xcos-for-real-time-control-and-measurement-applications>
>
> Prior to this important event, we want to highlight some Scilab partners
> in the world of Embedded Systems which will be present at Embedded World:
>
>
>    - Evidence <http://evidence.eu.com/>,
>    <http://3o69.mj.am/link/3o69/l1yg/14/nhjVrhr02-h021TOwOMROQ/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5lbW10cml4LmNvbQ>
>    - Emmtrix <http://www.emmtrix.com/>,
>    <http://3o69.mj.am/link/3o69/l1yg/15/hj8JqLS_OR8HY87_Elb4cA/aHR0cDovL3d3dy54aWxpbnguY29tLw>
>    - Xilinx <http://www.xilinx.com/>
>    - LCM <http://mechatronic-simulation.org/> (present at Microchip's
>    booth)
>
> Please do contact us, to set up a time for some quality exchange.
>
> Meet us @ Embedded World
> <contact at scilab-enterprises.com?subject=embeddedworld2016>
>
> --
> The Scilab Team
>
>
>
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>
>
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