Matlab is useful for it's special use case -- for mathematical applications (signal processing, medical imaging, etc). It has good tools to speed up the code too: parfor and the like.
But the cost gets to me. It inhibits collaboration, and costs a ton for non-academics. From scientific computing[1]:
> $1,900 for the commercial Matlab; $2,800 for Simulink; and typically $800 for each toolbox.
The whole Matlab suite doesn't sit well with me, so I'm most likely a Pythonista. The speed of Numpy/Scipy is comparable, and the quality of the Matplotlib plots wonderful. In fact, I've done a speed comparison[2] between between Python and Matlab. I would have optimized more in Matlab, but didn't have access to the Optimization toolbox.
But the cost gets to me. It inhibits collaboration, and costs a ton for non-academics. From scientific computing[1]:
> $1,900 for the commercial Matlab; $2,800 for Simulink; and typically $800 for each toolbox.
The whole Matlab suite doesn't sit well with me, so I'm most likely a Pythonista. The speed of Numpy/Scipy is comparable, and the quality of the Matplotlib plots wonderful. In fact, I've done a speed comparison[2] between between Python and Matlab. I would have optimized more in Matlab, but didn't have access to the Optimization toolbox.
[1]:http://www.scientific-computing.com/review1.html [2]:http://nbviewer.ipython.org/urls/raw.github.com/scottsievert...