Re: Signal Processing GUI

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

On 05/11/2007, JonCole <address@hidden> wrote:
> He's doing a lab for undergraduates and doesn't really
> want to have to teach them the syntax and command line.

My gut reaction to this is that the command line is ten times as
expressive as any GUI could ever be. I am teaching a course on
numerical analysis right now, and I'm not afraid to tell them to bust
open a shell and type some commands once in a while, even if there's a
GUI that will let them accomplish the same task much more slowly. If
that's too complicated, then prior to the lecture you prepare a list
of commands that they can either copy-paste to the command line or
just have them read it from a file.

I have my doubts that GUIs actually facilitate learning anything. Even
the Windows world is having a shell revival with their Microsoft
Windows Power Shell Plus Professional Edition Deluxe, or whatever the
marketable term is nowadays. Besides, it's not as if Octave's syntax
were complicated. And when GUIs have a reasonable implementation of a
command history and command completion, then we'll talk. ;-)

Opinionated,
- Jordi G. H.