Working with Matlab mainly involves using four windows: the desktop (for interactively entering program code or to type commands), the figure window1 (for graphical output), an editor window2 (for handling user-written programs), and the help window3 (very useful).
Besides containing the command subwindow with the input prompt, in separate parts the desktop also lists the variables (subwindow “workspace”) and the contents of the directory (containing the user-written programs) presently in use, and it displays the command history (which will be saved at the end of a Matlab session).
In the command subwindow, each line of input is taken as an expression to be computed (or a command to be executed) one after the other. By default, any numerical result is printed on the screen; this can be suppressed by terminating the input line with a ; (semicolon).
1The figure window opens automatically as soon as a command is executed that generates a 2D or 3D plot. By default, the next plot-generating command replaces the content of this window. For more information about this window and its usage, see Chapter 2 below.
2The editor window allows tabbed handling of several user-written programs at a time. It provides syntax highlighting for key words, a simple tree-like overview of the structure of a program, and it allows to set breakpoints (which is very useful for debugging).
3The help window can be used both as a manual as well as a full command reference; it contains many examples for the use and detailed descriptions of all built-in commands and functions.
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© J. Carstensen (Comp. Math.)