> There is no use case for these languages anymore.
There are entire ecosystems of academic libraries built around Matlab that can’t all just be picked up and moved to Python. This argument probably doesn’t realise just how ingrained Matlab is in STEM non-CS academic departments.
Example: my girlfriends department writes a world-leading MRI analysis library in Matlab. They offer training courses on it (so departments around the world now know it) and it’s frequently used within academic papers (so there are now resources available on it). Why would they move to Python?
> There are entire ecosystems of academic libraries built around Matlab that can’t all just be picked up and moved to Python.
They can and they are. Python is increasingly displacing everything in the data industry and especially proprietary legacy platforms like Matlab. The number of things you can do in Matlab but not Python is converging on 0, while the inverse is not even worth trying to count.
Major universities are abandoning Matlab, Labview, SPSS, Minitab etc for Python, which is basically the end for them all. The next wave of CS/SE/DS/ML graduates had no exposure to Matlab. It'll linger in electrical engineering for a few more years but will suffer the same fate. In the end, proprietary platforms have no chance against FOSS.
> Example: my girlfriends department writes a world-leading MRI analysis library in Matlab
Siemens is leading the MRI industry and the only place where they're still using Matlab is the legacy platforms that aren't yet listed for updates or aren't worth updating.
The actual leading stuff is done with the same ML tools as the rest of the industry, mostly Tensorflow. Siemens and GE both also have programs to engage and eventually acquire 3rd party ML platforms not a single one of which has anything to do with Labview or Matlab outside of occasionally interfacing with legacy components.
> Major universities are abandoning Matlab, Labview, SPSS, Minitab etc for Python
Just to add another point of anecdata.
I helm a large data science effort in the defense industry. We are actively moving away from MATLAB and to Python. It's easier for us to find Python coders, easier to train people to use Python, more maintainable for the restrictions we have on our networks, and cheaper.
Yep, NASA used it alongside Matlab for the Orion's Guidance and Navigation Control systems. I've never had the chance to use it though, it looks pretty interesting.
In python, your MRI analysis library could be trivially hooked up with other cloud data pipelines. Companies would require fewer training courses on average.
python is the most popular programming language in the world and getting better.
Because more more and more people realize that using closed source, proprietary programming languages and libraries is not compatible with open, reproducible science.
Sure but in reality most if not all educational institutes that I'm aware of have Matlab licenses, it's what everyone in that particular field uses, and it's better to publish something with Matlab code than nothing at all which is I guess the alternative (it's a means to an end after all).
I can imagine this will change in the long run, but right now there are many valid reasons why people use these tools.
There are entire ecosystems of academic libraries built around Matlab that can’t all just be picked up and moved to Python. This argument probably doesn’t realise just how ingrained Matlab is in STEM non-CS academic departments.
Example: my girlfriends department writes a world-leading MRI analysis library in Matlab. They offer training courses on it (so departments around the world now know it) and it’s frequently used within academic papers (so there are now resources available on it). Why would they move to Python?