Product category:
Maths, charting, statistics and QA software
News Release from: The MathWorks | Subject: Matlab 6
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 07 November 2000
New Matlab 6 features improved desktop
front end
Matlab 6 features a new desktop front end and integrated tools that provide easy, intuitive access to the widely recognised mathematical, analysis, visualisation and programming powers of Matlab
The MathWorks, the world's leading supplier of technical computing software for engineers and scientists, is introducing a major new version of Matlab, its flagship product Matlab 6 features a new desktop front end and a portfolio of integrated tools that provide users with easy, intuitive access to the widely recognised mathematical, analysis, visualisation and programming powers of Matlab
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 7 Nov 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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A large number of new tools simplify common tasks such as the importing of data, the performance of quick analyses and the creation of high quality, informative graphics.
These and other features are the direct result of extensive user research and have been introduced with the aim of making Matlab more accessible and maximising user effectiveness.
In addition, the core matrix computing and signal processing engines of Matlab have been further optimised, and access has been provided to hardware devices and Java directly from Matlab.
Matlab 6 is being made available alongside Release 12 of The MathWorks' product family, which includes numerous new and updated products for use with Matlab.
The new Matlab desktop houses a set of tools that provide an easy way for new and experienced users to learn and apply the features of Matlab.
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Among the many new desktop components are a cross-product, fully searchable HTML-based help reader, a command history window that documents users' Matlab sessions, and a workspace browser for loading, viewing and editing data.
Another new introduction is The MathWorks' new GUIDE system (Graphical User Interface Design Environment), built for point-and-click development and design of GUI interfaces from Matlab.
Used together, these tools help users to organise their data, programs and graphics, and provide a direct route into the Matlab environment.
Matlab is the world's most widely used technical computing environment, with broader scope and functionality than any alternative product.
In developing Matlab 6, The MathWorks focussed specifically on ease-of-use, conducting extensive customer research and usability tests.
As a result, Matlab 6 offers a range of tools that made it easier to access and use the full power of the software.
The MathWorks has brought together the latest advances in user interface design, usability, Java technology, numeric computing and graphics.
With Matlab 6, standard analysis, plotting and visualisation tasks are now far easier to perform and repeat, without any programming.
Users can edit, annotate and customise their Matlab graphics and export them, with new point-and-click interfaces, to third party applications such as Word and PowerPoint.
New data statistics and basic fitting tools allow users to superimpose statistical calculations and curve fits - both text and graphics - directly on their Matlab plots.
Adding to the extensive collection of advanced visualisation features, Matlab 6 now permits the viewing of 2-D images, surfaces and volumes as transparent objects; it also includes visual tools for controlling point-of-view.
The core mathematical and signal processing routines have been extensively optimised with Matlab 6.
The new release incorporates the well-respected, cache-aware LAPACK library, which replaces LINPACK and EISPACK, resulting in significant speed increases.
For simple matrix computations, such as matrix multiplication, operations on matrices of several hundred by several hundred are six to eight times faster, while more complex operations, such as eigenvalue and singular value decomposition, are approximately twice as fast.
In addition, the FFT functions now rely on the MIT FFTW library, resulting in significantly faster performance across the range of FFTs, particularly for large lengths.
Probably the most significant obstacle to analysis and algo-ithm development is the importing of data.
For this reason, both Matlab 6 and The MathWorks Release 12 include a wide range of new and updated tools for accessing and acquiring data.
The new Matlab Import Wizard is an interactive tool that allows users to access and selectively import data stored externally in a variety of industry-standard formats, such as JPEG, AVI, Excel and ASCII.
In addition, data from peripheral instruments and devices such as printers and modems can be brought directly into Matlab through the computer's serial port, via the new Matlab serial port interface.
For exchanging data with OBDB/JDBC compliant databases, such as Oracle and Sybase, the new Database Toolbox 2.1 offers significant speed improvements for executing queries and now runs on a wider range of platforms.
In addition, one of the most significant new additions to The MathWorks product line is the Instrument Control Toolbox, which enables users, for the first time, to communicate with GPIB and VISA-based instruments, such as oscilloscopes, directly from Matlab.
Matlab 6 itself offers new tools for integrating external code, aimed particularly at users who work with other programming environments.
For example, a new Java interface allows users to call Java directly from Matlab, allowing them to incorporate their Java routines with their Matlab applications.
With the interface, users can call Java-based GUIs for use within their Matlab applications, send results of mathematical computations to Java applications and more.
This capability allows Matlab users to work with colleagues who work in Java, while using Matlab as their own primary development platform.
Other new features of The MathWorks Release 12: For users who want to convert their Matlab applications to C and C++, the updated Matlab Compiler Suite 2.1 can handle an enlarged set of Matlab functions and language features.
In addition, Release 12 includes several new and updated Matlab application toolboxes for data acquisition, maths and analysis.
New products include the Filter Design Toolbox, Financial Derivatives Toolbox and Instrument Control Toolbox.
Major updates of the Signal Processing, Control System, Statistics, Spline, Wavelet and Neural Network toolboxes feature new visual interfaces and algorithms that make learning and applying toolbox algorithms easier.
Matlab 6 is currently shipping for Microsoft Windows 95, 98 and 2000, and UNIX and Linux platforms.
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