newbie question: python vs. Matlab

[Raymond Hettinger]

Based on my experience with both languages, I can tell you that Python
is slower, has a less convenient vector operations, and
lacks the fully developed, expansive book of functions that MatLab
offers (Cleve Moler has thought out every nuance when it comes to round-off
error, optimization, sparse arrays, and algorithmic trade-offs).  NumPy is
much younger and less developed.

That nothwithstanding, you'll love Python.  Building GUIs is much easier;
and there are libraries for an incredible range of non-numeric tasks.
M-files look simple at first, but do not scale up as cleanly as Python
(also, you won't miss meshgrid() one bit).  The best part that you can
easily interface with other apps. It only takes one or two lines to
extract data from the internet or generate email output.  PythonWin
makes it easy to push and pull data from Excel.  In short, Python's
"glue" capabilities and clear syntax far exceed Matlab's abilities.

When I need the best of both worlds, I write everything in Python except
for the intense numeric steps which I delegate to Matlab.  Under windows,
the MatLab engine is easily accessible using  DDE (dynamic data exchange)
interface.

Raymond

P.S. I neglected to mention that Python is free, extendable in C, and has
open source code.


Jinsong Liang wrote:

> Hi every body,
>
> I am a control engineer and familiar with Matlab. It seems to me that
> python is similar to Matlab in some sense. Who can tell me what the
> advantage of python over Matlab is?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Leo