The Octave language is an interpreted programming language. It is a structured programming language (similar to C) and supports many common C standard library functions, and also certain UNIX system calls and functions.[12] However, it does not support passing arguments by reference.[13]
Octave programs consist of a list of function calls or a script. The syntax is matrix-based and provides various functions for matrix operations. It supports various data structures and allows object-oriented programming.[14]
Its syntax is very similar to MATLAB, and careful programming of a script will allow it to run on both Octave and MATLAB.[15]
Because Octave is made available under the GNU General Public License, it may be freely changed, copied and used.[10] The program runs on Microsoft Windows and most Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including OS X.[16]