user-contributed MATLAB programs that are shared through the MATLAB
Web site.
4. Device-Independent Plotting
Unlike most other computer languages, MATLAB has many integral
plotting and imaging commands. The plots and images can be displayed
on any graphical output device supported by the computer on which
MATLAB is running. This capability makes MATLAB an outstanding tool
for visualizing technical data.
5. Graphical User Interface
MATLAB includes tools that allow a programmer to interactively
construct a graphical user interface (GUI) for his or her program. With
this capability, the programmer can design sophisticated data analysis
programs that can be operated by relatively inexperienced users.
6. MATLAB Compiler
MATLAB′ s flexibility and platform independence is achieved by
compiling MATLAB programs into a device-independence p-code, and then
interpreting the p-code instructions at run time. This approach is
similar to that used by Microsoft is Visual Basic language.
Unfortunately, the resulting programs can sometimes execute slowly
because the MATLAB code is interpreted rather than compiled. We will
point out features that tend to slow program execution when we
encounter them.
A separate MATLAB compiler is available. This compiler can compile
a MATLAB program into a true executable that runs faster than the
interpreted code. It is a great way to convert a prototype MATLAB
program into an executable suitable for sale and distribution to users.
Disadvantages of MATLAB
MATLAB has two principal disadvantages. The first is that it is an
interpreted language, and therefore can execute more slowly than compiled
languages. This problem can be mitigated by properly structuring the