[IPOL discuss] matlab software guidelines

[Enric Meinhardt-Llopis]

Dear Pablo,

> Are there any official or unofficial guidelines for Matlab submissions?

Yes, there is the current draft of the official IPOL software guidelines:
https://tools.ipol.im/wiki/ref/software_guidelines/drafts/

> I was thinking in things like avoiding to use fancy functions with closed
> code.

Matlab itself is a fancy function with closed code, so the short
answer is NO, you cannot avoid closed code if you use Matlab, by
definition.

If you prefer a more nuanced answer, I would suggest that you try to
follow the software guidelines linked above.  Essentially, this means
two things:

1) Use only "pure" matlab, without unnecessary packages
2) Make sure that your code runs correctly under the Octave
interpreter (this was suggested by several people during the last
meeting of the editorial board)

The first requirement may not be possible if your code relies in an
essential way in some closed package.  But if it doesn't, the octave
compatibility should come for free.  In that case, your demo will
probably run faster because the octave interpreter starts immediately,
but the matlab binary code requires almost a second to "load".

Best,
Enric

>
> Apologies if this was asked before...
>
> Thanks,
> Pablo
>