Scilab

Infobox_Software
name = Scilab


caption = A Screenshot of Scilab Running
developer = INRIA
latest_release_version = 5.0.2
latest_release_date = 2008-09-29
preview_version =
operating_system = Linux, UNIX, Windows
genre = Technical computing
license = CeCILL
website = [http://www.scilab.org/ www.scilab.org]

Scilab is a numerical computational package developed since 1990 by researchers from the INRIA and the École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC). It is, since the creation of the Scilab consortium in May 2003, developed and maintained by the INRIA.

It is a high level programming language in that most of its functionality is based around the ability to specify many computations with few lines of code. It does this primarily by abstracting primitive data types to functionally equivalent matrices.

It is similar in functionality to MATLAB, but is available for download at no cost. The program enables users to compute a wide range of mathematical operations from relatively simple operations such as multiplication to high level operations such as correlation and complex arithmetic. The software is often used for signal processing, statistical analysis, image enhancement, fluid dynamics simulations etc.

Scilab has been widely used in several industry and research projects, and many contributions have been made by users. The syntax is similar to MATLAB but the two are not completely compatible, though there is a converter included in Scilab for MATLAB=>Scilab Conversions. Scilab has fewer help files than MATLAB.

Scilab also includes a package called Scicos for modeling and simulation of explicit and implicit dynamical systems including both continuous and discrete sub-systems and the screenshot shows the Scicos block diagram editor in the top right window.

License

Scilab version 5.0.2 (released 2008-09-29) is distributed under the GPL-compatible CeCILL license.

Prior versions of Scilab were semi-free software according to the nomenclature of the Free Software Foundation. The reason for this is that the old [http://www.scilab.org/legal/license.html Scilab license] 's prohibition of commercial distribution or use of modified versions of Scilab contradicts clause 6 of the open source definition.

Syntax

Scilab syntax is largely based on the MATLAB language. The simplest way to execute Scilab code is to type it in at the prompt, --> , in the graphical command window. In this way, Scilab can be used as an interactive mathematical shell.

References

*

See also

* List of numerical analysis software
* Comparison of numerical analysis software

External links

* [http://www.scilab.org/ Scilab site]
* [http://www.scilab.org/legal/license.html Scilab license]
* [http://www.scilab.org/doc/intro/ Introduction to Scilab]
* [http://www.scilab.org/product/man-eng/ Scilab online help index (English)]
* [http://ekalavya.it.iitb.ac.in/contents.do?topic=Scilab A nice series of video tutorials on Scilab are available at IIT Bombay Website under creative commons share alike license]
* [http://siptoolbox.sourceforge.net/ Image processing toolkit for Scilab]
* [http://myweb.polyu.edu.hk/~mmttwong/scilab2007/ Event: Scilab Contest and Research Workshop (May 11-13, 2007, in Guangdong, China)]