Talk:MATLAB

message: The paragraph in the section talks about US sanctions. I have not read of any 'ban' here. Besides, the scope of the sanctions is not whole China. According to the paragraph, only a couple of universities have been affected. Thus, I'd call it a misleading section title which needs changing.
193.197.74.254 (talk) 11:53, 8 December 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree, nor is it sufficiently sourced, nor relevant enough to warrant its own section IMO. This section should be removed. 2001:1C00:1800:F600:FD6C:7CB4:A8B3:24CB (talk) 18:57, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: 'Ban in China'?

message: My use case is that I do not know MATLAB but want to get an impression as input to the selction of a numerical tool for a project. I like the beginning of the syntax section (which is also an example section) as it is self-contained in explaining the examples. This is done consistently until we get to the magic square M example, where we encounter the line
  (J,I) = meshgrid(1:n)
but the meaning of "meshgrid" is not explained. Thus, I do not really understand that example. Similarly in the 2D sinc example, where we encounter "meshgrid" again, and also other new notation such as ".^" and "eps".
I miss some more advanced examples - like with built-in special functions (if it has some?) how can one handle I/O. Can I interface with external code and examples of how to do that. How about reporting? All in all I miss some more information about the possibilities rather than the limitations. -- Slaunger (talk) 12:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: A quick search for matlab meshgrid or matlab eps would find you what you need.  Add the info the article if you think like. Dicklyon (talk) 15:41, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you for responding. I did the same search and found my answers. I do not mind contributing, but I prefer to do it on topics which I am knowledgable about, and secondarily I have reservations at contributing here, as my written English is unworthy en.wikipedia. It was just a suggestion for improvement. -- Slaunger (talk) 20:55, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Examples 

message: Today the default data type in Matlab is the 64-bit double-precision floating point (complex numbers need two times 64 bit). I have been unable to find information about the historical development of the default data type. What was it in the early days of MATLAB? Matlab appeared first on computers on which the standard allocation unit was the byte (8 bit) and I guess 64 bit precision was not possible back then. Does anyone remember or even better know a source for this information? User:Nillerdk (talk) 10:15, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: 64-bit "double-precision" floats have been common on computers for a long time, and as far as I can recall, that's what Matlab always had; I started using it around 1990.  The programs it was based on were much older, but I think still used the same numeric format, more or less (but before IEEE standard floating point, not all 64-bit floats were alike).  Dicklyon (talk) 06:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

text: You can find a bit of history in a blog post by Steve Eddins (a developer at MathWorks): Data Types. Amro (talk) 20:44, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  History of default data type 

message: Since matlab code can't be run independent of the MATLAB programming, I am 99% sure that it is a scripting language, and NOT a programming language. Discuss.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.10.240.41 (talk) 04:11, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, there is a compiler that allows one to run matlab code outside the matlab environment. -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 15:59, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If you read the link you provided, you will see that so called "compiled" m-files are completely dependent on the Matlab runtime, which must be either packaged with the executable or downloaded before execution.  This equates to packaging the MATLAB engine/interpreter and simply slapping an m-file on the end.  Simply put (in non-marketing terms) this is not compiling.  This is stripping the engine out of MATLAB and tacking your script onto it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.36.227.199 (talk) 06:33, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

text: Reading the first sentences of the wikipedia articles on programming languages and scripting languages, I can only conclude that this section was opened with a category error. Scripting languages are a subset of programming languages, so there can't be an either-or. Also, the article on scirpting languages states that scripting languages automate sequences that could be executed one-on-one by a human operator - while it is possible to write such automations in any programming language, MatLab is certainly not confined to that kind of code, although the simplistic source code examples in the article may give another impression.92.218.143.107 (talk) 08:32, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

text: Since you did not define what scripting languages and programming languages are, in your opinion, your hypothesis is empty. 129.247.247.239 (talk) 15:50, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Programming Language or Scripting Language?  

message: This is given as an example in the matrices section but it is unclear to someone without previous knowledge (such as myself) how that command brings that answer. 
A(2:4,3:4)
ans =
 11 8
 7 12
 14 1
could someone please add an explanation into the article?
THEMlCK (talk) 02:18, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I added a sentence that should help, right before that example. Dicklyon (talk) 04:09, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclear discussion of matrices 

message: I think this link can be removed. --SiggyF (talk) 09:53, 6 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Monkey Analytics 

message: It is pretty clear from the previous discussion dating back for at least 3 years that there will never really be a "resolution" to the NPOV dispute.  There are people dug in on both sides.  Does that mean that the tag stays on forever? 76.118.23.40 (talk) 18:17, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I've removed the tag and replaced it with . Dispute tags are not supposed to be badges of shame to be worn indefinitely by articles. This article needs significant work, but I believe it's simply a matter of requiring a competent rewrite to comply with our guidelines on article content and tone rather than something which needs thorough discussion on talk. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 12:47, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV tag 

message: There seems to be some extraneous info in the introduction, regarding the rising importance of MATLAB for continuing education students. This strikes me as possibly worthy of a sub-section (possibly), but not worthy as part of the introduction. No references are given and the concluding sentence, "These stand-alone courses are of special significance in helping older people with backgrounds in engineering, science, and economics remain competitive." seems highly opinionated. The rest of the introduction is fine but I am deleting this portion for now and leaving this comment for open discussion/disagreement.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sealbock (talk • contribs) 00:09, 4 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extraneous info in introduction  

message: Why there is no toolbox price list ? There is not even a single word in the article about how much does it cost. One could think MATLAB is so humanitarian and altruistic....  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.206.211.29 (talk) 13:24, 25 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Ever seen a price list in an Encyclopedia?Billlion (talk) 15:58, 25 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Comparison of computer algebra systems for example. KudzuVine (talk) 23:40, 28 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why there is no toolbox price list ? 

message: If it's a popular expression for some people, it might be worth a separate article and a link. Otherwise, it should be replaced by something clearer, explained, or the section should be removed. Engelec (talk) 17:51, 1 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  What's ''secondary programming''? 

message: Section 6 has no citations - is there evidence of this?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.212.3.4 (talk) 13:57, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Section 6 (License) 

message: #Please describe the colon notation for pulling all elements in a column A(:,ColIndex) or row A(RowIndex,:). Was this an innovation of Matlab (or APL?)?
#Please describe the government-funded development of MATLAB as an interface to BLAS and LAPack, I believe by Cleve Moler at a State University in New Mexico. The primitive MATLAB used to be freeware in the early 1990s.
#(Regarding "Easter eggs": In the 1990s, the interpreter responded to "fuck" with "Your place or mine?". Has this been documented?) 
#The article should specify whether MATLAB stores vectors and arrays by row or columsn. 
Thanks,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz 17:27, 20 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Colons for submatrices 

message: It is not clear if the sentence "For example, typing in "spy" will get a generate of the spies from spy vs spy." is meant to make grammatical sense or if it is computer jargon. The word "generate" is normally a verbal and not a noun. KudzuVine (talk) 23:37, 28 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Jargon

message: Parts of this article contain information that is i.m.o. not relevant for an encyclopedia. For example,
* A square identity matrix of size n can be generated using the function eye, and matrices of any size with zeros or ones can be generated with the functions zeros and ones, respectively. Does this tell us anything about MATLAB?
* What about 4 examples, even involving arrays in the 'Variables' section? I don't even get to know whether MATLAB is case-sensitive in the entire 'Syntax' section.
* The 'Array' section is way too long. Readers are smart enough to know what happens when the increment operator defaults to 1. The examples hardly clarify anything, and their descriptions are usually saying the same thing multiple times. Logical indexing, however a powerful and characteristic tool in MATLAB, is not included. Neither are Cell Arrays.
* Functions, one of the fundamental structures within MATLAB, do not have an example, and just throw around with vague 'anonymous functions' terminology.
* Do we really need to know how a magic square is created within MATLAB? Sure, let's use a neat little math puzzle as clarification.
*  The extremely long examples on how to make a 3d-graph, which is just copy-pasted from the MATLAB documentation. Those plot are not only irrelevant (seriously, wireframe AND surface? Why not go through all 10+ 3d plotting functions in MATLAB?), but also in the wrong section; plots are not GUI; they are output, not interface.
Opinions?92.109.161.68 (talk) 19:00, 13 September 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree, too many examples. Also, the reception chapter is missing. Shaddim (talk) 20:40, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Both information lacking and superfluous examples 

message: I'm not sure how to update the Wikipedia article to reflect the latest stable version and date using the Wikipedia latest stable software release template. This Wikipedia article should be linked (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Latest_stable_software_release/MATLAB) so that it works. 146.186.210.67 (talk) 17:49, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Update latest stable release version and date using the Wikipedia latest stable software release template 

message: please add matlab mobile info  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohammadsdtmnd (talk • contribs) 16:05, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  MATLAB Mobile 

message: Should this article not be moved to Matlab or MatLab as per MOS:TMSTYLE? A.Brudz (talk) 10:14, 8 November 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Mathworks consistently refers to this software as MATLAB (I have only ever seen lowercase in function names in official publications). Even if most people use Matlab instead, my reading of MOS:TMSTYLE doesn't lead me to the conclusion that this should be changed. Muxarin (talk) 10:04, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: It looks to me like MOS:TMSTYLE is less relevant here than MOS:TMRULES; specifically the bullet point re capitalisation. TomFryers (talk) 22:22, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article name 

message: I  work for MathWorks, the developers of MATLAB. The current History section is just 1.5 paragraphs long and doesn't include some of the better independent citations available. I'd like to offer an expanded version as a proposed replacement that would grow the history section about 5x, add better citations, and so on. I was hoping an independent editor would be willing to review the draft and approve/implement all or part of it or provide feedback per WP:COI. Lendieterle (talk) 21:22, 14 January 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I checked through it and it is well-sourced. I changed the word 'cult-like' to 'strong' as I couldn't access the source for that statement and it was the only portion that seemed to stray from neutral point of view. Otherwise, I think it's great. Brirush (talk) 19:11, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed history content 

message: See also: Archived previous discussions about "Alternatives"
The current page has an "Alternatives" section that features a long list of competitors. The list is uncited, most of the competitors listed are not really MATLAB's main competitors, and it kind of feels more like a list of plugs/linkbait more than prose-style encyclopedic content. I wanted to ask if such a section was appropriate or could it be removed? I work for MathWorks, so will not edit myself. Pinging , who helped with a prior edit in case they can chime in. BlueAmatero (talk) 20:27, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: After discussion with other math editors, I've removed the unsourced section and replaced it with a sourced paragraph in the appropriate section. Let me know if there are any errors!Brirush (talk) 22:04, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

text: I think at least GNU Octave should be mentioned somewhere, possibly in the "MATLAB and other languages". This is due to GNU Octave's stated goal of interoperating with MATLAB (incompatibility issues are treated as bugs). It is useful information, even for MathWorks customers, as GNU Octave can be easily included in a CI system, for instance. MATLAB is in turn extensively mentioned on Octave Wikipedia's page (25 matches). Mayeulc (talk) 12:12, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternative Section 

message: Thanks ! I just have one more thing I wanted to ask about. I'd like to make a bunch of additions to the "Release history" section as outlined in bold here. I imagine these shouldn't be very controversial edits, even for MathWorks itself to be making, but if you have time to give it a quick lookover and let me know if you have any concerns, your time would be very much appreciated. BlueAmatero (talk) 19:17, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: No, those edits are just fine, I don't see any possible problems with them; they're sourced, neutrally-worded, in line with pre-existing information and fill in missing information. You should be free to make those changes in the main file. Brirush (talk) 22:26, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Release History 

message: I work for MathWorks and would like to ask an independent editor to update the description text as part of the rollover link under Origins. John N. “Jack” Little’s title was updated from president and co-founder to CEO and cofounder. This update is reflected on MathWorks Founders page. Pinging @Brirush who have shown an interest in the page before. BlueAmatero (talk) 15:08, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Update John N. “Jack” Little’s title  

message: The box of example code in the functions sections is not relevant. It looks like it's inherited from a section about the colon operator in array indexing, illustrated with an image manipulation application. It could usefully be replaced by an example of a function definition if it isn't just removed completely. 46.208.239.4 (talk) 20:06, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Example code in the functions section