Several questions have been raised during [http://dc5video.debian.net/2005-07-17/Using_Debian_for_science_research-Helen_Faulkner.mpeg Helen's conference] about Octave.
The goal of this wiki page is to provide all relevant answers and much more.
[http://lists.debian.org/debian-science/2005/07/msg00005.html Victor Munoz opinion]
A [http://www.octave.org/mailing-lists/help-octave/2005/2897 comment] from [http://www.octave.org/ Octave] [http://www.octave.org/archive.html help mailing list]. It seems sparse matrix algorithms are actually implemented.