If you could have one MATLAB toolbox for free then what would it be?
One of MATLAB’s strengths is that it has a toolbox for almost everything. One of it’s weaknesses is that you have to pay separately for them all! Basic MATLAB is cheaper for most people than basic Mathematica but, in my experience at least, many people need access to statistics, optimization,symbolics, curve fitting and (increasingly) parallel toolboxes before they get functionality equivalent to Mathematica. By the time one has bought all of those additional toolboxes, MATLAB doesn’t look quite so cheap!
I am growing a list of quality, free MATLAB toolboxes and it is clear that the world could do with more. So, I have a question for you all. If you could have one MATLAB toolbox for free then which one would it be?
The Image Processing Toolbox.
-Simulink if counted as toolbox
-Optimization otherwise
Interesting question.
Could it be, that you want to write an open toolbox?
I like the neural networks toolbox.
“Basic MATLAB is cheaper for most people than basic Mathematica but, in my experience at least, many people need access to statistics, optimization,symbolics, curve fitting and (increasingly) parallel toolboxes before they get functionality equivalent to Mathematica.”
Anybody that had a basic course in any procedural computer language can use MATLAB with 100% efficiency. On the contrary, one must spend at least 6 months in order to learn how to write less than 100% Mathematica-wise efficient code. And 6 man-months is a lot of money…
To answer your question, the NAG toolbox would be good to be free…
@Viktor – It might have crossed my mind ;)
@GG – 6 months for Mathematica proficiency? Not my experience to be honest. Which part of the NAG Toolbox’s functionality interests you most?
@GG My code in Mathematica is most of the time a lot shorter, because pure (anonymous) functions are easily available, as well as higher-order functions like Map, Apply, Fold et cetera….
@Mike Croucher
“6 months for Mathematica proficiency?”
It’s my estimate. To be frank i stopped using mathematica after 2 (full-time, 7-day) weeks.
The code i was writing was too slow compared to matlab so i stopped using it. May be i was also intimitated by Trott’s books…
“Which part of the NAG Toolbox’s ”
…the whole NAG toolbox. Or the random number generators for …an appetizer