Re: Slow carpet plots (octave 2.9.12 CVS/gnuplot)

[David Bateman]

John W. Eaton wrote:
> I'm fairly sure thsi si a bug in gnuplot.  See this thread:
>
>   
> http://www.nabble.com/Gnuplot-garbage-in-octave-prompt-tf3715276.html#a10398198
>
> Can nsomeone please add this topic to the FAQ?  I suspect it is going
> to come up a lot.
>
> jwe
> _______________________________________________
>   
How about something like the attached. It also fixes a couple of other
little items in the FAQ... The additions are just making the FAQ a
little more generic rather than talking about 2.9.10, and changing the
example of missing functionality as the interpn function can do splines
now :-)..

Can we get the FAQ and the manual on the website updated as well?

Cheers
David

-- 
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--- doc/faq/Octave-FAQ.texi.~1.24.~     2007-05-22 21:06:43.000000000 +0200
+++ doc/faq/Octave-FAQ.texi     2007-06-15 18:15:18.540597509 +0200
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 @titlepage
 @title Octave FAQ
 @subtitle Frequently asked questions about Octave
address@hidden April, 2007
address@hidden June, 2007
 @sp 1
 @author John W. Eaton
 @page
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 @menu
 * What is Octave?::  
 * How can I cite Octave?::  
-* Series 2.9.N::  
+* Series 2.9.N and 3.0.N::  
 * Octave Features::  
 * Learning more about Octave:: 
 * Getting Octave::  
@@ -172,15 +172,15 @@
 @end group
 @end example
 
address@hidden Series 2.9.N
address@hidden What's new in version series 2.9.N of Octave
address@hidden Series 2.9.N and 3.0.N
address@hidden What's new in version series 2.9.N and 3.0.N of Octave
 
 The 2.9.N series, started in March 2005, has enough new features to
-justify a major version number change.  Version 2.9.10 is nearly as
-stable as the latest 2.1.N releases and stability should increase as
-one gets near version 3.0.
+justify a major version number change.  The latest version are as stable
+as the last 2.1.N releases and stability should increase as one gets
+near version 3.0.
 
-Series 2.9.N brings
+The 2.9.N and 3.0.N series brings
 
 @itemize @bullet
 
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@
 
 @end itemize
 
-Here are some features that have been around since 2.1.NN
+Here are some features that have been around since 2.1.N
 
 @itemize @bullet
 
@@ -225,13 +225,12 @@
 * Informative block closing::
 * Coherent syntax::             
 * Exclamation mark as not operator::
address@hidden * Short-circuit boolean operators::  
 * Increment and decrement operators::  
 * Unwind-protect::              
 * Built-in ODE and DAE solvers::
 @end menu
 
-This section refers to Matlab 6,5.0 R 13 and Octave 2.9.10.
+This section refers to Matlab R2007a and Octave 2.9.12.
 
 @node Functions defined on the command-line
 @section Functions defined on the command-line
@@ -544,7 +543,7 @@
 
 @cindex Octave, building 
 
-Octave 2.9.10 requires approximately 800MB of disk storage to unpack
+Octave 2.9.N and 3.0 require approximately 800MB of disk storage to unpack
 and compile from source (considerably less if you don't compile with
 debugging symbols).  Once installed, Octave requires approximately 200MB
 of disk space (again, considerably less if you don't compile with
@@ -596,6 +595,18 @@
 to the list of directories searched for function files. Check the list
 of directories with the @code{path} command. If the path list is very
 long check your use of the @code{genpath} function.
+
address@hidden
+When plotting Octave occasionally gives me errors like ``gnuplot> 9 0.735604
+line 26317: invalid command''
+
+There is a known bug in gnuplot 4.2 that can cause an off by one error
+while piping data to gnuplot. The relevant gnuplot bug report can be
+found at 
@url{http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1716556&group_id=2055&atid=102055}
+
+If you have obtained your copy of Octave from a distribution please file
+a bug report requesting that the fix reported in the above bug report be
+included.
 @end itemize
 
 @node How do I ...?
@@ -660,7 +671,7 @@
 number of octave function that are available and their @sc{Matlab}
 compatibility.
 
-The major differences between Octave 2.9.10 and  @sc{Matlab} v7.3 are:
+The major differences between Octave 2.9.N and  @sc{Matlab} R2007a are:
 
 @itemize @bullet
 @item Nested Functions
@@ -738,9 +749,8 @@
 for example condest or to do with specific missing Octave functionality
 (gui, dll, java, activex, dde, web, and serial functions). Some of the
 core functions have limitations that aren't in the @sc{Matlab}
-version. For example the interpN function can only do linear
-interpolation and not cubic spline, etc.. However the interp and interp2
-function can.
+version. For example the @code{sprandn} function can not force a
+particular condition number for the matrix like @sc{Matlab} can.
 
 @item Just-In-Time compiler
 
@@ -768,7 +778,7 @@
 itself. There is in Octave 2.9.10 and later, and so the graphics between
 Octave and @sc{Matlab} are currently in the process of converging to a
 common interface.  Note that the basic graphic handle stuff is in place
-in 2.9.10, but not graphics objects like "patch", "barseries", etc.
+since 2.9.10, but not graphics objects like "patch", "barseries", etc.
 
 @item GUI 
 
@@ -818,9 +828,8 @@
 
 Up to version 2.9.10, Octave can't load/save the inline or function
 handles saved in mat-files by @sc{Matlab} (though can in its own
-format). There is some work to fix this, but the @sc{Matlab} function handle
-format in mat-files is undocumented and this is therefore not easy to
-address. 
+format). In 2.9.11 and later Octave can load inline and function handles
+saved in the mat-file formats, but can't save them to mat-files.
 
 Finally, Some multi-byte unicode characters aren't yet treated in
 mat-files.
@@ -956,8 +965,7 @@
 code that terminate in an error to ensure that the variables that
 are touched are restored. You can do something similar with
 try/catch combined with rethrow(lasterror()) in @sc{Matlab}, however
-rethrow and lasterror were only just introduced in Octave and so
-aren't in 2.9.9, but are in 2.9.10.
+rethrow and lasterror are only available in Octave 2.9.10 and later.
 
 Note that using try/catch combined with rethrow(lasterror()) can not
 guarentee that global variables will be correctly reset, as it won't