{"slug": "octave", "name": "Octave", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.887, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-12-15", "latest": "2026-09-04", "why": "I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://octave.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Octave"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793094816, "item_id": 49568426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49568426", "by": "bee_rider", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Octave is the closest thing to being Matlab without being Matlab (and actually I use Octave)", "excerpt": "Just to be fully pedantic, Octave is the closest thing to being Matlab without being Matlab (and actually I use Octave). :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Matlab-like numerical computing", "switched_from": "", "story": "How an MIT research project became the Julia programming language"}, {"id": 740511712, "item_id": 46281982, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46281982", "by": "tpoacher", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages.", "excerpt": "One small piece of feedback for the dev, since I see you've been replying to comments here. I had to jump like 3 links and 4 pages down to figure out what runmat actually \"is\" / \"does\". As someone who's done their whole thesis using Octave this looks interesting. I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages. And, for reasons I don't understand even myself, I don't like matlab that much (though I admit their docu", "context": "did whole thesis in Octave", "use_case": "thesis numerical computing", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Defense of Matlab Code"}, {"id": 740478848, "item_id": 46279928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279928", "by": "mNovak", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Matlab (or rather, Octave the free equivalent) all the time. It's really great for numerical computing and plotting.", "excerpt": "As an engineer, I use Matlab (or rather, Octave the free equivalent) all the time. It's really great for numerical computing and plotting. Most things 'just work', there's a sizeable collection of packages, and I personally like how flexible the function inputs are. Biggest drawback though is that it's over-optimized for matrix math, that it forces you to think about everything as matrices, even if that's not how you", "context": "engineer", "use_case": "numerical computing and plotting", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Defense of Matlab Code"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "tpoacher", "context": "did whole thesis in Octave", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46281982", "date": "2025-12-15"}, {"by": "mNovak", "context": "engineer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279928", "date": "2025-12-15"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["matlab-like numerical computing", "linear algebra", "thesis numerical computing", "numerical computing and plotting"], "compared": [{"slug": "matlab", "name": "MATLAB", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49507072", "title": "How an MIT research project became the Julia programming language", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46248294", "title": "In Defense of Matlab Code", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 793094816, "item_id": 49568426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49568426", "by": "bee_rider", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Octave is the closest thing to being Matlab without being Matlab (and actually I use Octave)", "excerpt": "Just to be fully pedantic, Octave is the closest thing to being Matlab without being Matlab (and actually I use Octave). :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Matlab-like numerical computing", "switched_from": "", "story": "How an MIT research project became the Julia programming language"}, {"id": 792980224, "item_id": 49561264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561264", "by": "hasley", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Getting linear algebra in a programming language close to math formulas was, for a long time, my reason to use Octave.", "excerpt": "Getting linear algebra in a programming language close to math formulas was, for a long time, my reason to use Octave. When I first read about Julia, I was really amazed - especially the type system with its multiple dispatching and not automatically converting between types (e.g., between integers and floats). Though, I do not know, how Julia is today. Today, I use Python instead of Octave (or Julia) - just because ", "context": "", "use_case": "linear algebra", "switched_from": "Octave", "story": "How an MIT research project became the Julia programming language"}, {"id": 740511712, "item_id": 46281982, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46281982", "by": "tpoacher", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages.", "excerpt": "One small piece of feedback for the dev, since I see you've been replying to comments here. I had to jump like 3 links and 4 pages down to figure out what runmat actually \"is\" / \"does\". As someone who's done their whole thesis using Octave this looks interesting. I love Octave, it's one of my favourite languages. And, for reasons I don't understand even myself, I don't like matlab that much (though I admit their docu", "context": "did whole thesis in Octave", "use_case": "thesis numerical computing", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Defense of Matlab Code"}, {"id": 740478848, "item_id": 46279928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279928", "by": "mNovak", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Matlab (or rather, Octave the free equivalent) all the time. It's really great for numerical computing and plotting.", "excerpt": "As an engineer, I use Matlab (or rather, Octave the free equivalent) all the time. It's really great for numerical computing and plotting. Most things 'just work', there's a sizeable collection of packages, and I personally like how flexible the function inputs are. Biggest drawback though is that it's over-optimized for matrix math, that it forces you to think about everything as matrices, even if that's not how you", "context": "engineer", "use_case": "numerical computing and plotting", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Defense of Matlab Code"}]}