MATrix LABoratory and its language (was: Re: I Blame Python)

On 2026-08-11, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

> So MATLAB users are moving away from the language (and toolkit?) in
> favour of other tools
> <https://www.infoworld.com/article/4207496/matlab-programming-language-sinking-in-popularity.html>.
>
> Yes, proprietary languages and toolkits are a lot less attractive
> these days, given the embarrassment of riches available in the
> open-source world. MATLAB was probably good enough at the time for its
> original use (matrix manipulation), but take advice from someone who
> had to do programming work in that language (for pay, yet): *stay well
> away* from the GUI-toolkit API, if you can help it.
>
> It was a long time ago, but I still get the shakes thinking about it
> ...

It's amazing Matlab as a tool remains(remained?) in use with such
popularity, given that the licensing system is a huge and major pain,
and singlehandedly becomes a giant "don't use this" sign. Maybe that was
student licenses, but still...

(Although personally I'd probably be driven away by their choice to
feature only a ribbon bar.)

As for the language itself, wasn't there some similar one from the GNU
project, Octave? Or am I mixing things up?

-- 
Nuno Silva