Programming

Programming Tips

This chapter is a categorized compilation of tips for the MATLAB^® programmer. Each item is relatively brief to help you to browse through them and find information that is useful. Many of the tips include a reference to specific MATLAB documentation that gives you more complete coverage of the topic. You can find information on the following topics:

Command and Function Syntax	Syntax, command shortcuts, command recall, etc.
Help	Getting help on MATLAB functions and your own
Development Environment	Useful features in the development environment
M-File Functions	M-file structure, getting information about a function
Function Arguments	Various ways to pass arguments, useful functions
Program Development	Suggestions for creating and modifying program code
Debugging	Using the debugging environment and commands
Variables	Variable names, global and persistent variables
Strings	String concatenation, string conversion, etc.
Evaluating Expressions	Use of `eval`, short-circuiting logical expressions, etc.
MATLAB Path	Precedence rules, making file changes visible to MATLAB, etc.
Program Control	Using program control statements like `if`, `switch`, `try`
Save and Load	Saving MATLAB data to a file, loading it back in
Files and Filenames	Naming M-files, passing filenames, etc.
Input/Output	Reading and writing various types of files
Starting MATLAB	Getting MATLAB to start up faster
Operating System Compatibility	Interacting with the operating system
Demos	Learning about the demos supplied with MATLAB
For More Information	Other valuable resources for information

For suggestions on how to improve the performance of your MATLAB programs, and how to write programs that use memory more efficiently, see Improving Performance and Memory Usage.

Increasing System Swap Space Command and Function Syntax