Write Octave in IPython

19 May 2016

Some of my code writen in Octave, also I would like to put it on the blog. One of easy ways is using ipython notebook with Octave then convert it to markdown content.

I am not going to use oct2py that will be a extension to ipython. It’s not my object. I would like to use pure Octave code and see highlight of Octave.

Octave

Install

Official download page.
Or directly download the Octave binary package from Octave Forge and install

Configure

Put the binary path in your PATH enviornment variable. In Mac and Octave version 3.8.0:

echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/octave/3.8.0/bin" >> ~/.bash_profile

Octave kernel

A Jupyter kernel for Octave - Github

Install

pip install octave_kernel
python -m octave_kernel.install

The secend command is important!

Check it is in the kenrnel list

ipython kernelspec list

Write a sample Octave in IPython

If you seen there is a octave in kernel list that means you are successful. Let’s try it!

ipython console --kernel octave

In[1]: fprintf('Hello octave\n');
gnuplot 4.6 patchlevel 4
Hello octave