Scilab on Cloud and Textbook Companion Project: A Web 2.0 Service for Open Source Education

The use of proprietary and licensed softwares for computational use cannot be taken for granted, especially in academia. Use of open source computational softwares like Scilab should be encouraged at all levels. Any desktop based computation software package's use can often be limited by its hardware requirements and most of them are not yet ready for the next generation of low cost hardware devices. Here we present a cloud based service model that allows user to run Scilab codes from remote locations using just a browser. We have also come up with a comprehensive database of Scilab examples from engineering textbooks: Textbook Companion Project. The user can select from a pool of more than 6000 Scilab examples and run it directly from the browser, thus making installation of Scilab natively unessential. Scilab on Cloud is offered as a Web 2.0 service with a public application programming interface(API) which can be used freely to execute codes on the cloud as a SaaS(Software as a Service). This service not only provides an educational interface to Scilab beginners but also makes Scilab computing accessible to low cost and minimal hardware computational devices.