ANNOUNCE: Octave Version 2.0.4 released

[John W. Eaton]

Octave version 2.0.4 is now available for ftp from ftp.che.wisc.edu
in the directory /pub/octave.  Diffs from the previous release are
also available in the same directory.

  -rw-r--r--   1 jwe  3315120 Feb 20 04:06 octave-2.0.4.tar.gz
  -rw-r--r--   1 jwe    29456 Feb 20 04:07 octave-2.0.3-2.0.4.patch.gz

Version 2.0.4 fixes some problems with the configure scripts and
Makefiles that were present in 2.0.3.  It will probably be the last
2.0.x release unless some serious new bugs are found and reported.

There are also two new features, both of which are kluges to allow a
bit more compatibility with Matlab (what would be the fun of making a
release just to fix bugs? :-):

  * It is now possible to use commands like ls, save, and cd as simple
    variable names.  They still cannot be used as formal parameters
    for functions, or as the names of structure variables.  Failed
    assignments leave them undefined (you can recover the orginal
    function definition using clear).

  * Is is now possible to invoke commands like ls, save, and cd as
    normal functions (for example, load ("foo", "x", "y", "z")).

You can help make Octave more reliable by reporting any bugs you find
to address@hidden

Octave is a high-level interactive language primarily intended for
numerical computations.  It is mostly compatible with Matlab.

Additional information is available on the WWW at

  http://www.che.wisc.edu/octave

-- 
John W. Eaton
address@hidden
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Chemical Engineering