Scilab 6.0 is a major new release of Scilab, the open source platform for numerical computation.
Here is a tour of the changes between Scilab 6.0.0, 6.0.1 & 6.0.2.
The console "File => Open a file" menu now allows to open *.xcos *.zcos *.scg or lib files with the proper Scilab component, and other files with the proper OS application. All files were opened in Scinotes and could freeze it.
"gcd" and "lcm" of integers now always return a positive result.
"cat" has been rewritten. It is now fast and can process heavy arrays at high dimensions.
Warnings from "fplot3d1" called without an option were removed.
"whereis" has been upgraded:
"mgetl" speed has been improved for files with a lot of lines.
"ndgrid(x)" now accepts only one input "x", with by default "y=x".
Some functions have been tagged obsolete and will be removed in Scilab 6.1: "nanmin", "nanmax", "xgetech", "lstsize", "eval" & "dgettext" & "denom" & "numer".
Support to "id", "width", "height", "align" and "style" attributes added for the "<imagedata>" tag.
Support to "id" attribute added for the "<tr>" tag.
Numerous pages have been improved, comprising: "ismatrix", "xget", "xset", "ieee", "evstr", "uigetfont", "uigetdir", "uigetfile", "uiputfile", "cat", "makecell", "xstring", "norm", "barhomogenize", "colordef", "matrix", "type", "isinf", "unique", "getPreferencesValue", "gcd", "isglobal", "whereis", "mode" & "%onprompt".
In this version, extra effort has been expended on bug fixing and stabilization. Detailed information about those improvements can be found on the CHANGES file.
This release includes a major rewrite of Scilab's internal core, for better usability and performance: the changes to the visible aspects of the software are limited.
The first big internal change is a completely new language parser and interpreter.
The language changes are not all backward compatible. You will have to update your scripts/programs/modules, but it will be very simple in pretty much all cases.
The second big internal change is the ability to manipulate bigger data sets, without exhausting system resources.
Xcos - the graphical tool for dynamic systems modeling and simulation - also uses the new re-written Scilab engine, and is now running in native code, which should provide much better performance as well as support for much bigger models. Xcos can load and run models created with earlier versions of Scilab.
This release includes also several features to write better and more efficient Scilab scripts:
A new view is available in the visual environment of Scilab: the "Newsfeed". It provides a continuous feed of news, tips and general communication from the community and from the Scilab Team.
Scilab is now released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) v2.0. Prior to this version, Scilab was licensed under the terms of the CeCILL v2.1 and continues to be available under such terms.
In this version, the Intel Math Kernel Library and the FFTW library optimized by Intel Math Kernel Library are included in Scilab. They are subject to the Intel EULA.
If you are new to Scilab, please use the Scilab beginners tutorial and Xcos beginners tutorial provided by the Scilab Team.
The Scilab Team provides also some documentation and tutorials.
Scilab Homepage - Consult Scilab official website
Wiki - Consult documentations, tricks, etc.
Bug Tracker - Report bugs and wishes about Scilab
Forge - Browse and publish Scilab modules
Mailing Lists - Communicate and exchange with the community
ATOMS - Browse Scilab packaged modules
File Exchange - Exchange your scripts, results and files.