# Did anyone thought of implementing Octave on top of Julia?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211>\
**Category:** Numerics\
**Created:** [October 23, 2019, 9:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211 "2019-10-23T09:52:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![XVilka](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/xvilka/32/7155_2.png) [@XVilka](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/XVilka)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211/1 "2019-10-23T09:52:39Z")

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Apparently, a lot of the Octave/MATLAB features are already available in Julia, and implementing Octave language interpreter would allow to save a lot of time for both worlds. So basically, it will boil down to implement the Octave language parser, e.g. with [Tokenize.jl](https://github.com/JuliaLang/Tokenize.jl), and some glue where functions are missing in Julia. The Octave syntax is defined in `libinterp/parse-tree/oct-parse.yy` in bison/flex format. It will allow seamlessly run the existing Octave and Matlab code, will simplify embedding the Julia functions, and reusing the reach infrastructure related to machine learning (at least compared to Octave one).

There was some project called MatlabCompat.jl, but it didn’t took off

- [https://github.com/MatlabCompat/MatlabCompat.jl](https://github.com/MatlabCompat/MatlabCompat.jl)
- [https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1701/1701.02220.pdf](https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1701/1701.02220.pdf)

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**Author:** ![baggepinnen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/baggepinnen/32/693_2.png) [@baggepinnen](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/baggepinnen)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211/2 "2019-10-23T10:20:03Z")

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It requires someone who needs that badly enough to implement it. Do you need it badly enough?

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**Author:** ![xiaodai](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/xiaodai/32/15937_2.png) [@xiaodai](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/xiaodai)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:21am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211/3 "2019-10-23T10:21:27Z")

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I invented a torch. Now I just shine to another solar torch then I can see… Why not just the torch…

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**Author:** ![stevengj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevengj/32/71_2.png) [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/did-anyone-thought-of-implementing-octave-on-top-of-julia/30211/4 "2019-10-23T11:35:40Z")

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> [@XVilka](#):
>
> implementing Octave language interpreter would allow to save a lot of time for both worlds. So basically, it will boil down to implement the Octave language parser […]. It will allow seamlessly run the existing Octave and Matlab code

This is a FAQ: [Frequently Asked Questions · The Julia Language](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1.4-dev/manual/faq/#Why-don't-you-compile-Matlab/Python/R/%E2%80%A6-code-to-Julia?-1)