Re:GNU Octave
by marmetio on Sunday January 22, 2023 @10:15AM
(#34478132)
In my industry, people complain about the price of Matlab. When they switch to something else, it's usually another paid tool.
A lot of university programs in my field are now teaching Python instead of Matlab and the professors are developing libraries. When their students get jobs and budgets for the first time, they buy tools and the Python gets relegated to being an occasional supplement.
This isn't just Matlab vs Python. Most people do work that doesn't look like software engineering, even when they use software tools. They have other needs that need to be met.
And if you look at the total cost of closing the gap between Python and something with a license fee, a lot of times that "expensive" license starts looking like a pretty good deal.
You're trying to tell people with different jobs than you to work like a software engineer because you're ideologically opposed to something that looks like a programming language costing money. It doesn't make sense.
A lot of university programs in my field are now teaching Python instead of Matlab and the professors are developing libraries. When their students get jobs and budgets for the first time, they buy tools and the Python gets relegated to being an occasional supplement.
This isn't just Matlab vs Python. Most people do work that doesn't look like software engineering, even when they use software tools. They have other needs that need to be met.
And if you look at the total cost of closing the gap between Python and something with a license fee, a lot of times that "expensive" license starts looking like a pretty good deal.
You're trying to tell people with different jobs than you to work like a software engineer because you're ideologically opposed to something that looks like a programming language costing money. It doesn't make sense.