Page 50 - A Guide to MATLAB for Beginners and Experienced Users

Chapter 3

Interacting with

MATLAB

In this chapter we describe an effective procedure for working with MATLAB,
and for preparing and presenting the results of a MATLAB session. In parti-
cular we will discuss some features of the MATLAB interface and the use of
script M-files, function M-files, and diary files. We also give some simple hints
for debugging your M-files.

The MATLAB Interface

MATLAB 6 has a new interface called the MATLAB Desktop. Embedded inside
it is the Command Window that we described in Chapter 2. If you are using
MATLAB 5, then you will only see the Command Window. In that case you
should skip the next subsection and proceed directly to the Menu and Tool
Bars subsection below.

The Desktop
By default, the MATLAB Desktop (Figure 1-1 in Chapter 1) contains five
windows inside it, the Command Window on the right, the Launch Pad and
the Workspace browser in the upper left, and the Command History window
and Current Directory browser in the lower left. Note that there are tabs for
alternating between the Launch Pad and the Workspace browser, or between
the Command History window and Current Directory browser. Which of the
five windows are currently visible can be adjusted withthe View : Desktop
Layout menu at the top of the Desktop. (For example, with the Simple option,
you see only the Command History and Command Window, side-by-side.) The
sizes of the windows can be adjusted by dragging their edges with the mouse.

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