Perceptual Dynamics Laboratory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako-Shi Saitama, Japan.
Front Neuroinform. 2009 Feb 10;3:5. doi: 10.3389/neuro.11.005.2009. eCollection 2009.
Free access to scientific information facilitates scientific progress. Open-access scientific journals are a first step in this direction; a further step is to make auxiliary and supplementary materials that accompany scientific publications, such as methodological procedures and data-analysis tools, open and accessible to the scientific community. To this purpose it is instrumental to establish a software base, which will grow toward a comprehensive free and open-source language of technical and scientific computing. Endeavors in this direction are met with an important obstacle. MATLAB((R)), the predominant computation tool in many fields of research, is a closed-source commercial product. To facilitate the transition to an open computation platform, we propose Open-source MATLAB((R))-to-Python Compiler (OMPC), a platform that uses syntax adaptation and emulation to allow transparent import of existing MATLAB((R)) functions into Python programs. The imported MATLAB((R)) modules will run independently of MATLAB((R)), relying on Python's numerical and scientific libraries. Python offers a stable and mature open source platform that, in many respects, surpasses commonly used, expensive commercial closed source packages. The proposed software will therefore facilitate the transparent transition towards a free and general open-source lingua franca for scientific computation, while enabling access to the existing methods and algorithms of technical computing already available in MATLAB((R)). OMPC is available at http://ompc.juricap.com.
免费获取科学信息有助于科学进步。开放获取的科学期刊是朝着这个方向迈出的第一步；更进一步的措施是使伴随科学出版物的辅助和补充材料，如方法程序和数据分析工具，对科学界开放和可访问。为此，建立一个软件基础是很有帮助的，这个基础将朝着一个全面的、免费的和开源的技术和科学计算语言发展。在这方面的努力遇到了一个重要的障碍。MATLAB((R))是许多研究领域中占主导地位的计算工具，是一个闭源商业产品。为了促进向开放计算平台的过渡，我们提出了开源 MATLAB((R))到 Python 编译器（OMPC），这是一个使用语法适配和仿真来允许将现有 MATLAB((R))函数透明地导入到 Python 程序中的平台。导入的 MATLAB((R))模块将独立于 MATLAB((R))运行，依赖于 Python 的数值和科学库。Python 提供了一个稳定而成熟的开源平台，在许多方面超过了常用的昂贵商业闭源软件包。因此，拟议的软件将促进向自由和通用的开源科学计算通用语言的透明过渡，同时使技术计算中现有的方法和算法能够在 MATLAB((R))中使用。OMPC 可在 http://ompc.juricap.com 获得。
