Thread: [Octave-cvsupdate] SF.net SVN: octave:[6787] trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc

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Revision: 6787
          http://octave.svn.sourceforge.net/octave/?rev=6787&view=rev
Author:   prnienhuis
Date:     2010-01-18 20:56:49 +0000 (Mon, 18 Jan 2010)

Log Message:
-----------
Fixedlay-out; added a paragraph on java memory usage and memory options.

Modified Paths:
--------------
    trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-ODS.html
    trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-XLS.html

Modified: trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-ODS.html
===================================================================

--- trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-ODS.html	2010-01-18 12:14:21 UTC (rev 6786)
+++ trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-ODS.html	2010-01-18 20:56:49 UTC (rev 6787)
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 	<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="20091229;22213000">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
-	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20100117;20543700">
+	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20100118;21551300">
 	<META NAME="Info 1" CONTENT="">
 	<META NAME="Info 2" CONTENT="">
 	<META NAME="Info 3" CONTENT="">
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
+	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
 	<!--
 		@page { margin: 0.79in }
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2>This
-version January 14, 2010</FONT></FONT></P>
+version January 18, 2010</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><I>(ODS
@@ -127,7 +128,8 @@
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">For
-ODS access, you'll need one of the following java class files</FONT></FONT></P>
+ODS access, you'll need to choose at least one of the following java
+class files collections:</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
 	<LI><P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">(currently
 	the preferred option) <B>odfdom.jar</B> &amp; <B>xercesImpl.jar</B>.
@@ -234,9 +236,12 @@
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
 <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">I
-know of one big gotcha: i.e. reading dates (&amp; time).</FONT></FONT></P>
+know of one big gotcha: i.e. reading dates (&amp; time). A less
+obvious one is java memory pool allocation size.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>Date
+and time in ODS</B></FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
 <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Octave
 (as does Matlab) stores dates as a number representing the number of
@@ -278,7 +283,54 @@
 floats in octave cell arrays.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>Java
+memory pool allocation size</B></FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">The
+java virtual machine (JVM) initializes one big chunk of your
+computer's RAM in which all java classes and methods etc. are to be
+loaded: the java memory pool. It does this because java has a very
+sophisticated &ldquo;garbage collection&rdquo; system. At least on
+Windows, the initial size is 2MB and the maximum size is 64MB. On
+Linux this allocated size is much bigger. This part of memory is
+where the java-based ODS octave routines (and the java-based xls
+routines) live and keep their variables etc.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">For
+transferring large pieces of information to and from spreadsheets you
+might hit the limits of this pool. E.g. to be able to handle I/O of
+an array of around 50,000 cells I needed a memory pool size of 512
+MB.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">The
+memory size can be increased by inserting a file called &ldquo;java.opts&rdquo;
+(without quotes) in the directory
+./share/octave/packages/java-&lt;version&gt; (where the script file
+javaclasspath.m is located), containing just the following lines:</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none"><FONT FACE="Courier New, monospace"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>-Xms16m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none"><FONT FACE="Courier New, monospace"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>-Xmx512m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">(where
+16 = initial size, 512 = maximum size, m stands for Megabyte).</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">After
+processing a large chunk of spreadsheet information you might notice
+that octave's memory footprint does not shrink so it looks like
+java's memory pool does not shrink back; but rest assured, the memory
+footprint is the <I>allocated</I><SPAN STYLE="font-style: normal">
+(reserved) memory size, not the actual used size. After the JVM has
+done its garbage collection, only the so-called &ldquo;working set&rdquo;
+of the memory allocation is really in use and that is a trimmed-down
+part of the memory allocation pool. On Windows systems it often
+suffices to minimize the octave terminal for a few seconds to get a
+more reasonable memory footprint.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
 <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Smaller
 gotcha's (only with jOpenDocument):</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
@@ -380,7 +432,9 @@
 	and easy ODS write support (maybe when jOpenDocument is more mature)</FONT></FONT></P>
 	<LI><P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
 	<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Speeding
-	up</FONT></FONT></P>
+	up (ODS is 10 X slower than e.g. OOXML !!!). jOpenDocument is
+	muchfasterbut </FONT></FONT>
+	</P>
 	<LI><P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none">&ldquo;<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><SPAN STYLE="font-weight: normal">Passing
 	function handle&rdquo; a la Matlab's xlsread.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
@@ -388,5 +442,11 @@
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-left: 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
 <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Enjoy!</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Philip
+Nienhuis, Jan 18, 2010</FONT></FONT></P>
 </BODY>
 </HTML>
\ No newline at end of file

Modified: trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-XLS.html
===================================================================
--- trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-XLS.html	2010-01-18 12:14:21 UTC (rev 6786)
+++ trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc/READ-XLS.html	2010-01-18 20:56:49 UTC (rev 6787)
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 	<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CREATED" CONTENT="20091211;17230700">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
-	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20100112;22050800">
+	<META NAME="CHANGED" CONTENT="20100118;21550000">
 	<META NAME="Info 1" CONTENT="">
 	<META NAME="Info 2" CONTENT="">
 	<META NAME="Info 3" CONTENT="">
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
+	<META NAME="CHANGEDBY" CONTENT="Philip Nienhuis">
 	<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
 	<!--
 		@page { margin: 0.79in }
@@ -27,116 +28,128 @@
 	</STYLE>
 </HEAD>
 <BODY LANG="en-US" DIR="LTR">
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">README for Excel
-spreadsheet file r/w access scripts for octave (&gt;
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">README
+for Excel spreadsheet file r/w access scripts for octave (&gt;
 3.2.0)<BR><BR>Copyright (C) 2009, Philip Nienhuis &lt;prnienhuis at
-users.sf.net&gt;<BR><BR>This version 12 January 2010.</P>
+users.sf.net&gt;<BR><BR>This version 18 January 2010.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>EXCEL
-.XLS SUPPORT FILES</B></U></FONT></P>
-<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><B>doc/README-XLS.html</B></P>
-<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">This file.</P>
-<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><B>xlsread.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">All-in-one function for reading data
-from one specific worksheet in an Excel spreadsheet file. This script
-has Matlab-compatible functionality.<BR><BR><B>xlswrite.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">All-in-one function for writing data to
-one specific worksheet in an Excel spreadsheet file. This script has
-Matlab-compatible functionality. <BR><BR><B>xlsfinfo.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">All-in-one function for exploring basic
-properties of an Excel spreadsheet file. This script has
-Matlab-compatible functionality.<BR><BR><B>xlsopen.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Function for &quot;opening&quot; (=
-providing a handle to) an Excel spreadsheet file (&quot;workbook&quot;).
-This function sorts out which interface to use for .xls access
-(i.e.,COM; Java &amp; Apache POI; JexcelAPI; etc.), but it's choice
-can be overridden.<BR><BR><B>xls2oct.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Function for reading data from a
-specific worksheet pointed to in a struct created by xlsopen.m.
-xls2oct can be called multiple times consecutively using the same
-pointer struct, each time allowing to read data from different ranges
-and/or worksheets. Data are returned in the form of a 2D
-heterogeneous cell array that can be parsed by parsecell.m. xls2oct
-is a mere wrapper for interface-dependent scripts that do the actual
-low-level reading .<BR><BR><B>oct2xls.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Function for writing data to a specific
-worksheet pointed to in a struct created by xlsopen.m. octxls can be
-called multiple times consecutively using the same pointer struct,
-each time allowing to write data to different ranges and/or
-worksheets. oct2xls is a mere wrapper for interface-dependent scripts
-that do the actual low-level writing.<BR><BR><B>xlsclose.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Function for closing (the handle to) an
-Excel workbook. When data have been written to the workbook oct2xls
-will write the workbook to disk. Otherwise, the file pointer is
-simply closed and possibly used interfaces for Excel access
-(COM/ActiveX/Excel.exe) will be shut down properly.<BR><BR><B>parsecell.m</B></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Function for separating the data in raw
-arrays returned by xls2oct, into numerical/logical and text (cell)
-arrays.</P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>EXCEL
+.XLS SUPPORT FILES</B></U></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><B>doc/README-XLS.html</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">This
+file.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><B>xlsread.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">All-in-one
+function for reading data from one specific worksheet in an Excel
+spreadsheet file. This script has Matlab-compatible
+functionality.<BR><BR><B>xlswrite.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">All-in-one
+function for writing data to one specific worksheet in an Excel
+spreadsheet file. This script has Matlab-compatible functionality.
+<BR><BR><B>xlsfinfo.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">All-in-one
+function for exploring basic properties of an Excel spreadsheet file.
+This script has Matlab-compatible functionality.<BR><BR><B>xlsopen.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Function
+for &quot;opening&quot; (= providing a handle to) an Excel
+spreadsheet file (&quot;workbook&quot;). This function sorts out
+which interface to use for .xls access (i.e.,COM; Java &amp; Apache
+POI; JexcelAPI; etc.), but it's choice can be overridden.<BR><BR><B>xls2oct.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Function
+for reading data from a specific worksheet pointed to in a struct
+created by xlsopen.m. xls2oct can be called multiple times
+consecutively using the same pointer struct, each time allowing to
+read data from different ranges and/or worksheets. Data are returned
+in the form of a 2D heterogeneous cell array that can be parsed by
+parsecell.m. xls2oct is a mere wrapper for interface-dependent
+scripts that do the actual low-level reading .<BR><BR><B>oct2xls.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Function
+for writing data to a specific worksheet pointed to in a struct
+created by xlsopen.m. octxls can be called multiple times
+consecutively using the same pointer struct, each time allowing to
+write data to different ranges and/or worksheets. oct2xls is a mere
+wrapper for interface-dependent scripts that do the actual low-level
+writing.<BR><BR><B>xlsclose.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Function
+for closing (the handle to) an Excel workbook. When data have been
+written to the workbook oct2xls will write the workbook to disk.
+Otherwise, the file pointer is simply closed and possibly used
+interfaces for Excel access (COM/ActiveX/Excel.exe) will be shut down
+properly.<BR><BR><B>parsecell.m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Function
+for separating the data in raw arrays returned by xls2oct, into
+numerical/logical and text (cell) arrays.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>REQUIRED
-SUPPORT SOFTWARE</B></U></FONT></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>For the Excel/COM interface:</P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>REQUIRED
+SUPPORT SOFTWARE</B></U></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR>For
+the Excel/COM interface:</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">A windows computer with Excel
-	installed</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Octave-forge Windows-1.0.8 package
-	WITH LATEST SVN PATCHES APPLIED</P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">A
+	windows computer with Excel installed</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Octave-forge
+	Windows-1.0.8 package WITH LATEST SVN PATCHES APPLIED</FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
 <P STYLE="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
 <BR>
 </P>
 <P STYLE="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
-For the Java / Apache POI / JExcelAPI interfaces (general):</P>
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">For
+the Java / Apache POI / JExcelAPI interfaces (general):</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">octave-forge java-1.2.5 package or
-	later version on Linux</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">octave-forge java-1.2.6 with
-	latest svn fixes on Windows/MingW</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Java jre or jdk &gt; 1.6.0 (hasn't
-	been tested with earlier versions)</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">./jre/lib/rt.jar in classpath</P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">octave-forge
+	java-1.2.5 package or later version on Linux</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">octave-forge
+	java-1.2.6 with latest svn fixes on Windows/MingW</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Java
+	jre or jdk &gt; 1.6.0 (hasn't been tested with earlier versions)</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">./jre/lib/rt.jar
+	in classpath</FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Apache POI specific:</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Apache
+POI specific:</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">class .jars:
-	<B>poi-3.5-FINAL-&lt;date&gt;.jar</B> &amp;
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">class
+	.jars: <B>poi-3.5-FINAL-&lt;date&gt;.jar</B> &amp;
 	<B>poi-ooxml-3.5-FINAL-&lt;date&gt;.jar</B> (or later versions) in
-	classpath</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Get it here:
-	<A HREF="http://poi.apache.org/download.html">http://poi.apache.org/download.html</A></P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">for OOXML support (only available
-	with Apache POI): 
+	classpath</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Get
+	it here: <A HREF="http://poi.apache.org/download.html">http://poi.apache.org/download.html</A></FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">for
+	OOXML support (only available with Apache POI): </FONT></FONT>
 	</P>
-	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">poi-ooxml-schemas-&lt;version&gt;.jar,
-	xbean.jar, dom4j-1.6.1.jar in javaclasspath. 
+	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">poi-ooxml-schemas-&lt;version&gt;.jar,
+	xbean.jar, dom4j-1.6.1.jar in javaclasspath. </FONT></FONT>
 	</P>
-	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Get them here:</P>
-	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><A HREF="http://poi.apache.org/download.html">http://poi.apache.org/download.html</A>
-	(&ldquo;xmlbeans&rdquo; and poi-ooxml-schemas)</P>
-	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/dom4j/files">http://sourceforge.net/projects/dom4j/files</A>
-	(dom4j-&lt;version&gt;)</P>
+	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Get
+	them here:</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><A HREF="http://poi.apache.org/download.html">http://poi.apache.org/download.html</A>
+	(&ldquo;xmlbeans&rdquo; and poi-ooxml-schemas)</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/dom4j/files">http://sourceforge.net/projects/dom4j/files</A>
+	(dom4j-&lt;version&gt;)</FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">JExcelAPI specific:</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">JExcelAPI
+specific:</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">class .jar: <B>jxl.jar</B> in
-	classpath</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Get it here:
-	<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/jexcelapi/files/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/jexcelapi/files/</A></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">class
+	.jar: <B>jxl.jar</B> in classpath</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Get
+	it here: <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/jexcelapi/files/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/jexcelapi/files/</A></FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Hint: simply put the relevant
-javaaddpath statements in the .octaverc file.</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Hint:
+simply put the relevant javaaddpath statements in the .octaverc file.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>USAGE</B></U></FONT></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><B>xlsread</B> and <B>xlswrite</B>
-are mere wrappers for <B>xlsopen</B>-<B>xls2oct</B>-<B>xlsclose</B>-<B>parsecell</B>
-and <B>xlsopen</B>-<B>oct2xls</B>-<B>xlsclose</B> sequences, resp.
-They exist for the sake of Matlab compatibility.<BR><BR><B>xlsfinf</B>o
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>USAGE</B></U></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><B>xlsread</B>
+and <B>xlswrite</B> are mere wrappers for
+<B>xlsopen</B>-<B>xls2oct</B>-<B>xlsclose</B>-<B>parsecell</B> and
+<B>xlsopen</B>-<B>oct2xls</B>-<B>xlsclose</B> sequences, resp. They
+exist for the sake of Matlab compatibility.<BR><BR><B>xlsfinf</B>o
 can be used for finding out what worksheet names exist in the file.
 For OOXML files the input parameter REQINTF should be specified with
 a value of 'poi' (case-insensitive) and -obviously- the complete POI
@@ -172,89 +185,94 @@
 Add new data to spreadsheet</I><BR><B>xlh = oct2xls (Newdata, xlh,
 &lt;AnotherWorksheet&gt;, &lt;Range&gt;)</B><BR><BR><I># Close the
 workbook and write it to disk; then clear the handle</I><BR><B>xlh =
-xlsclose (xlh)</B><BR><B>clear xlh</B></P>
+xlsclose (xlh)</B><BR><B>clear xlh</B></FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">When not using the COM interface,
-specify a value of 'POI' for parameter REQINTF when accessing OOXML
-files in xlsread, xlswrite, xlsopen, xlsfinfo (and be sure the
-complete Apache POI interface is installed).</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">When
+not using the COM interface, specify a value of 'POI' for parameter
+REQINTF when accessing OOXML files in xlsread, xlswrite, xlsopen,
+xlsfinfo (and be sure the complete Apache POI interface is
+installed).</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>MATLAB
-COMPATIBILITY</B></U></FONT></P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR><B>xlsread</B>, <B>xlswrite</B> and
-<B>xlsfinfo</B> are for the most part Matlab-compatible. Some small
-differences are mentioned below.<BR><BR><B>xlsread</B><BR>Matlab's
-<B>xlsread</B> supports invoking extra functions while reading
-(&quot;passing function handle&quot;); octave not. But this can be
-simulated outside <B>xlsread</B>.<BR><BR>Matlab's <B>xlsread</B>
-flags some spreadsheet errors, octave-forge just returns blank
-cells.<BR><BR>When using a Java interface, octave-forge returns info
-about the actual (rather than the requested) cell range where the
-data came from; Matlab and ActiveX/Excel can't. This is due to Excel
-automatically trimming returned arrays from empty outer columns and
-rows. When using COM, octave has the same limitation.<BR>Personally I
-find it very useful to know from what part of a worksheet the data
-originate so I've put quite some effort in it :-)</P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>MATLAB
+COMPATIBILITY</B></U></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><BR><B>xlsread</B>,
+<B>xlswrite</B> and <B>xlsfinfo</B> are for the most part
+Matlab-compatible. Some small differences are mentioned
+below.<BR><BR><B>xlsread</B><BR>Matlab's <B>xlsread</B> supports
+invoking extra functions while reading (&quot;passing function
+handle&quot;); octave not. But this can be simulated outside
+<B>xlsread</B>.<BR><BR>Matlab's <B>xlsread</B> flags some spreadsheet
+errors, octave-forge just returns blank cells.<BR><BR>When using a
+Java interface, octave-forge returns info about the actual (rather
+than the requested) cell range where the data came from; Matlab and
+ActiveX/Excel can't. This is due to Excel automatically trimming
+returned arrays from empty outer columns and rows. When using COM,
+octave has the same limitation.<BR>Personally I find it very useful
+to know from what part of a worksheet the data originate so I've put
+quite some effort in it :-)</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Matlab's xlsread ignores all
-non-numeric data values outside the smallest rectangle encompassing
-all numerical values. Octave's xlsread doesn't. This means that
-Matlab ignores all row/column headers, not very user-friendly IMO.
-<BR><BR>When using the Java interface, reading and writing xls-files
-by octave-forge is platform-independent. On systems w/o Excel Matlab
-can only read Excel 95 formatted .xls files.<BR><BR>Matlab's <B>xlsread</B>
-invokes <B>csvread</B> if no Excel interface is present.
-Octave-forge's <B>xlsread</B> doesn't.<BR><BR><B>xlswrite</B><BR>Octave-forge's
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Matlab's
+xlsread ignores all non-numeric data values outside the smallest
+rectangle encompassing all numerical values. Octave's xlsread
+doesn't. This means that Matlab ignores all row/column headers, not
+very user-friendly IMO. <BR><BR>When using the Java interface,
+reading and writing xls-files by octave-forge is
+platform-independent. On systems w/o Excel Matlab can only read Excel
+95 formatted .xls files.<BR><BR>Matlab's <B>xlsread</B> invokes
+<B>csvread</B> if no Excel interface is present. Octave-forge's
+<B>xlsread</B> doesn't.<BR><BR><B>xlswrite</B><BR>Octave-forge's
 <B>xlswrite</B> works on systems w/o Excel support, Matlab's doesn't
-(properly).</P>
+(properly).</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">When specifying a sheet number larger
-than the number of existing sheets in an .xls file, Matlab's xlswrite
-adds empty sheets until the new sheet number is created; Octave's
-xlswrite only adds one sheet called &ldquo;Sheet&lt;number&gt;&rdquo;
-where &lt;number&gt; is the specified sheet number. 
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">When
+specifying a sheet number larger than the number of existing sheets
+in an .xls file, Matlab's xlswrite adds empty sheets until the new
+sheet number is created; Octave's xlswrite only adds one sheet called
+&ldquo;Sheet&lt;number&gt;&rdquo; where &lt;number&gt; is the
+specified sheet number. </FONT></FONT>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Even better (IMO) while M's xlswrite
-always creates Sheet1/Sheet2/Sheet3 when creating a new spreadsheet,
-octave's xlswrite only creates the requested worksheet.</P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">And octave doesn't touch the &ldquo;active
-sheet&rdquo;.</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Even
+better (IMO) while M's xlswrite always creates Sheet1/Sheet2/Sheet3
+when creating a new spreadsheet, octave's xlswrite only creates the
+requested worksheet.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">And
+octave doesn't touch the &ldquo;active sheet&rdquo;.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">If the specified write range is larger
-than the actual data array, Matlab's xlswrite adds #N/A cells to fill
-up the lowermost rows and rightmost columns; octave-forge's xlswrite
-doesn't.   <BR><BR><B>xlsfinfo</B><BR>When invoking Excel/COM
-interface, octave-forge's <B>xlsfinfo</B> also echoes the type of
-sheet (worksheet, chart), not just the sheet names. Using Java I
-haven't found similar functionality (yet).</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">If
+the specified write range is larger than the actual data array,
+Matlab's xlswrite adds #N/A cells to fill up the lowermost rows and
+rightmost columns; octave-forge's xlswrite doesn't. <BR><BR><B>xlsfinfo</B><BR>When
+invoking Excel/COM interface, octave-forge's <B>xlsfinfo</B> also
+echoes the type of sheet (worksheet, chart), not just the sheet
+names. Using Java I haven't found similar functionality (yet).</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>COMPARISON
-OF INTERFACES &amp; USAGE</B></U></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>COMPARISON
+OF INTERFACES &amp; USAGE</B></U></FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Using Excel itself (through COM /
-ActiveX on Windows systems) is probably the most robust and versatile
-and especially FAST option. There's one gotcha: in case of some type
-of COM errors Excel will keep running invisibly, you can only end it
-through Task Manager.<BR>A tiny problem is that one cannot find out
-easily through COM what file types are supported; xls, wks, wk1,
-xlsx, etc.<BR>Another -obvious- limitation is that COM Excel access
-only works on Windows systems where Excel is installed.<BR>As
-Excel/COM trims returned arrays from empty outer row and columns it
-is not easy to find out from what cell range the returned data
-originate.<BR><BR>JExcelAPI (Java-based and therefore
-platform-independent) is proven technology but switching between
-reading and writing is quite involved and memory-hungry when
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Using
+Excel itself (through COM / ActiveX on Windows systems) is probably
+the most robust and versatile and especially FAST option. There's one
+gotcha: in case of some type of COM errors Excel will keep running
+invisibly, you can only end it through Task Manager.<BR>A tiny
+problem is that one cannot find out easily through COM what file
+types are supported; xls, wks, wk1, xlsx, etc.<BR>Another -obvious-
+limitation is that COM Excel access only works on Windows systems
+where Excel is installed.<BR>As Excel/COM trims returned arrays from
+empty outer row and columns it is not easy to find out from what cell
+range the returned data originate.<BR><BR>JExcelAPI (Java-based and
+therefore platform-independent) is proven technology but switching
+between reading and writing is quite involved and memory-hungry when
 processing large spreadsheets. As the docs state, JExcelAPI is
 optimized for reading and it does do that well - but slower than
 Excel/COM. The fact that upon a switch from reading to writing the
@@ -264,68 +282,129 @@
 next write() doesn't seem to work. The first is by JExcelAPI design,
 the second is probably a bug (in octave-forge/Java or JExcelAPI ? I
 don't know). Adding data to existing spreadsheets does work, but IMO
-undue user confidence is needed.</P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">JExcelAPI supports BIFF5 and BIFF8
-(Excel 95 and Excel 97-2003, respectively).</P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">JexcelAPI, unlike ApachePOI, doesn't
-evaluate functions while reading but instead relies on cached results
-(i.e. results computed by Excel itself). Depending on Excel settings
-(&ldquo;Automatic calculation&rdquo; ON or OFF) this may or may not
-yield incorrect results.<BR><BR>Apache POI (Java-based and
-platform-independent too) is based on the OpenOffice.org I/O Excel
-r/w routines. It is a little more versatile than JExcelAPI, while it
-doesn't support BIFF5 it does support BIFF8 (Excel 97 &ndash; 2003)
-and OOXML (Excel 2007).</P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">It is slower than native JXL let alone
-Excel &amp; COM but it features active formula evaluation, although
-at the moment (v. 3.6) not all Excel functions have been implemented.
-I've made the relevant script (xls2jpoi2oct) fall back on cached
-formula results (and yield a suitable warning) for non-implemented
-Excel functions while reading Excel files.<BR><BR>All in all, of the
-two Java options I'd prefer Apache POI rather than JexcelAPI. But the
-latter is indispensable for BIFF5 formats.</P>
+undue user confidence is needed.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">JExcelAPI
+supports BIFF5 and BIFF8 (Excel 95 and Excel 97-2003, respectively).</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">JexcelAPI,
+unlike ApachePOI, doesn't evaluate functions while reading but
+instead relies on cached results (i.e. results computed by Excel
+itself). Depending on Excel settings (&ldquo;Automatic calculation&rdquo;
+ON or OFF) this may or may not yield incorrect results.<BR><BR>Apache
+POI (Java-based and platform-independent too) is based on the
+OpenOffice.org I/O Excel r/w routines. It is a little more versatile
+than JExcelAPI, while it doesn't support BIFF5 it does support BIFF8
+(Excel 97 &ndash; 2003) and OOXML (Excel 2007).</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">It
+is slower than native JXL let alone Excel &amp; COM but it features
+active formula evaluation, although at the moment (v. 3.6) not all
+Excel functions have been implemented. I've made the relevant script
+(xls2jpoi2oct) fall back on cached formula results (and yield a
+suitable warning) for non-implemented Excel functions while reading
+Excel files.<BR><BR>All in all, of the two Java options I'd prefer
+Apache POI rather than JexcelAPI. But the latter is indispensable for
+BIFF5 formats.</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
 <P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>DEVELOPMENT</B></U></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>A
+NOTE ON JAVA MEMORY USAGE</B></U></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>Java
+memory pool allocation size</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">The
+java virtual machine (JVM) initializes one big chunk of your
+computer's RAM in which all java classes and methods etc. are to be
+loaded: the java memory pool. It does this because java has a very
+sophisticated &ldquo;garbage collection&rdquo; system. At least on
+Windows, the initial size is 2MB and the maximum size is 64MB. On
+Linux this allocated size is much bigger. This part of memory is
+where the java-based ODS octave routines (and the java-based xls
+routines) live and keep their variables etc.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">For
+transferring large pieces of information to and from spreadsheets you
+might hit the limits of this pool. E.g. to be able to handle I/O of
+an array of around 50,000 cells I needed a memory pool size of 512
+MB.</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">The
+memory size can be increased by inserting a file called &ldquo;java.opts&rdquo;
+(without quotes) in the directory
+./share/octave/packages/java-&lt;version&gt; (where the script file
+javaclasspath.m is located), containing just the following lines:</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none"><BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none"><FONT FACE="Courier New, monospace"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>-Xms16m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none"><FONT FACE="Courier New, monospace"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>-Xmx512m</B></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">(where
+16 = initial size, 512 = maximum size, m stands for Megabyte).</FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">After
+processing a large chunk of spreadsheet information you might notice
+that octave's memory footprint does not shrink so it looks like
+java's memory pool does not shrink back; but rest assured, the memory
+footprint is the <I>allocated</I><SPAN STYLE="font-style: normal">
+(reserved) memory size, not the actual used size. After the JVM has
+done its garbage collection, only the so-called &ldquo;working set&rdquo;
+of the memory allocation is really in use and that is a trimmed-down
+part of the memory allocation pool. On Windows systems it often
+suffices to minimize the octave terminal for a few seconds to get a
+more reasonable memory footprint.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
+<P ALIGN=LEFT STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none">
+<BR>
+</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
+</P>
+<P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE="font-size: 15pt"><U><B>DEVELOPMENT</B></U></FONT></FONT></P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><B>xlsopen</B>/<B>xlsclos</B>e and
-friends have been written so that adding other interfaces (Perl?
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt"><B>xlsopen</B>/<B>xlsclos</B>e
+and friends have been written so that adding other interfaces (Perl?
 native octave? ...?) should be very easily accomplished. <B>xlsopen</B>
 merely needs two stanzas, <B>xls2oct</B>, <B>oct2xls</B> and <B>xlsfinfo</B>
 each need an additional elseif clause, and <B>xlsclose</B> needs a
-small stanza for closing the pointer struct and writing to disk. 
+small stanza for closing the pointer struct and writing to disk. </FONT></FONT>
 </P>
-<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">The real work lies in creating the
-relevant <B>xls2&lt;...&gt;2oct</B> &amp; <B>oct2&lt;...&gt;2xls</B>
-scripts, but that shouldn't be really hard. Separating the file
-access functions and the actual reading/writing from/to the workbook
-in memory has made developer's life (I mean: my time developing this
-stuff) much easier.<BR><BR>Some other options for development (who?):</P>
+<P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">The
+real work lies in creating the relevant <B>xls2&lt;...&gt;2oct</B> &amp;
+<B>oct2&lt;...&gt;2xls</B> scripts, but that shouldn't be really
+hard. Separating the file access functions and the actual
+reading/writing from/to the workbook in memory has made developer's
+life (I mean: my time developing this stuff) much easier.<BR><BR>Some
+other options for development (who?):</FONT></FONT></P>
 <UL>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Speeding up, especially Java
-	worksheet/cell access. For cracks, not me.</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Automatic conversion of Excel
-	date/time values into octave ones and vice versa. But then again
-	Excel's dates are 01-01-1900 based (octave's 0-0-0000) and buggy
-	(Excel thinks 1900 is a leap year), and I sometimes have to use
-	dates from before 1900. Maybe as an option?</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Creating Excel graphs (a
-	significant enterprise to write from scratch).</P>
-	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Support for &quot;passing function
-	handle&quot; in xlsread.</P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Speeding
+	up, especially Java worksheet/cell access. For cracks, not me.</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Automatic
+	conversion of Excel date/time values into octave ones and vice
+	versa. But then again Excel's dates are 01-01-1900 based (octave's
+	0-0-0000) and buggy (Excel thinks 1900 is a leap year), and I
+	sometimes have to use dates from before 1900. Maybe as an option?</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Creating
+	Excel graphs (a significant enterprise to write from scratch).</FONT></FONT></P>
+	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in"><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Support
+	for &quot;passing function handle&quot; in xlsread.</FONT></FONT></P>
 </UL>
 <P STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
 <BR>
 </P>
 <P STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
-Enjoy!</P>
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Enjoy!</FONT></FONT></P>
 <P STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
 <BR>
 </P>
 <P ALIGN=CENTER STYLE="margin-left: 0.26in; text-indent: -0.26in; margin-bottom: 0in">
-Philip Nienhuis, Jan 12, 2010</P>
+<FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=2 STYLE="font-size: 11pt">Philip
+Nienhuis, Jan 18, 2010</FONT></FONT></P>
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Thread: [Octave-cvsupdate] SF.net SVN: octave:[6787] trunk/octave-forge/main/io/doc

A collection of packages providing extra functionality for GNU Octave

octave-cvsupdate