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New features and changes introduced in this version are organized by these topics:
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
The installation directory structure on Microsoft Windows platforms is slightly different than in previous versions. By default, the structure now includes a general MATLAB top level directory, with a subdirectory for R2006a. The root directory for the MATLAB software returned by the matlabroot function, is now of the form in this example:
D:\Applications\MATLAB\R2006a
In previous versions, the top-level directory included the version number, so the root directory for MATLAB, as returned by the matlabroot function, was of the form in this example:
D:\Applications\MATLAB 7.1
Compatibility Considerations. If you relied on the explicit root directory structure for MATLAB in your code, change it to reflect the new structure including the top-level MATLAB directory. The matlabroot function might be useful.
If MATLAB experiences a segmentation violation, it generates an error log. Upon the next startup, MATLAB prompts you to e-mail the error log to The MathWorks. The MathWorks uses the log to work on resolving the problem. When you send a log, you receive a confirmation e-mail and will only receive further e-mails if The MathWorks develops a fix or workaround for the problem.
There are some situations where the Error Log Reporter does not open, for example, when you start MATLAB with a -r option or run in deployed mode. If you experience segmentation violations but do not see the Error Log Reporter on subsequent startups, you can instead e-mail logs by following the instructions at the end of the segmentation violation message in the Command Window.
The Sun Microsystems JVM software version that MATLAB uses is now version 1.5.0_04 for 64-bit platforms running the Linux operating system from Linus Torvalds.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
Preferences includes a new pane, Keyboard, for setting key bindings, tab completion, and delimiter-matching preferences for the Command Window and Editor/Debugger. Most of these preferences were previously located in the preference panes for the Command Window or Editor/Debugger.
Compatibility Considerations. You no longer access keyboard and indenting preferences for the Command Window and Editor/Debugger from the component preferences, but rather from the new Keyboard preferences. In addition, some preferences that were set separately for these components are now shared. For details about the changes, see Keyboard and Indenting Command Window Preferences Reorganized, and Keyboard and Indenting Editor/Debugger Preferences Reorganized.
You can now open (and close) all desktop tools from the Desktop menu. In previous versions, you could not access document-based tools from the Desktop menu. The document-based desktop tools are: Editor/Debugger, Figures, Array Editor, and Web Browser.
Use Help > Web Resources > MathWorks Account menu items to go to your MathWorks Account if you are registered, or to register online. MathWorks Account was previously called Access Login.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
The Command Window Keyboard and Indenting preferences pane was removed. The tab size preference is now on the Command Window preferences pane. The tab completion, keybinding, and parentheses matching preferences were moved to the new Keyboard preferences pane. The parentheses-matching preferences are now called delimiter-matching preferences and are shared with the Editor/Debugger.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
You can now use the help function to get the complete description for MDL-files. For example, run
help f14_dap.mdl
MATLAB displays the description of the F-14 Digital Autopilot High Angle of Attack Mode model in the Simulink software, as defined in its Model Properties > Description:
Multirate digital pitch loop control for F-14 control design demonstration.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
The toolboxdir function returns the absolute pathname to the specified toolbox. It is particularly useful with the MATLAB Compiler product because the toolbox root directory is different than in MATLAB.
The Visual Directory view was removed from the Current Directory browser. Most of the features it provided are accessible from the Current Directory browser standard view.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are
Tab Completion — Tab Now Completes Function and Variable Names
Go Menu Added; Bookmark and Go To Items Moved from Edit Menu to Go Menu
Keyboard and Indenting Editor/Debugger Preferences Reorganized
M-Lint Automatic Code Analyzer Checks for Problems and Suggests Improvements
You can now use tab completion in the Editor/Debugger to complete function names and variable names that are in the current workspace. When you type the first few characters of a function or variable name and press the Tab key, the Editor/Debugger displays a list of all function and variable names that begin with those letters, from which you choose one.
It operates essentially the same way as the existing tab completion feature in the Command Window, with the exception that Editor/Debugger tab completion does not support completion of file and path names.
To enable tab completion in the Editor/Debugger, select File > Preferences > Keyboard, and then under Tab completion, select Tab key narrows completions. By default, the preference is selected.
With tab completion enabled in the Editor/Debugger, you can still include tab spacing, for example, to include a comment at the end of a line. To add tab spacing, include a space after the last character you type and then press Tab. Instead of showing possible completions, the Editor/Debugger moves the cursor to the right where you can continue typing.
Compatibility Considerations. If you press the Tab key to add spacing within your statements, you might instead get a completion for a function or see a list of possible completions. For example, if the preference for tab completion is on and you want to create this statement
if a=mate %test input value
where you press Tab after mate to achieve the spacing, the following happens instead
if a=material
This is because the tab completion preference completes mate, automatically supplying the material function.
To achieve the spacing with Tab (as in previous versions), either add a space after mate and then press Tab, or turn off the preference Tab key narrows completions in Keyboard Preferences.
To set, clear, and navigate to bookmarks, use the menu items in the new Go menu, which were previously located in the Edit menu.
The Go To feature for navigating to line numbers, functions in M-files, and cells has moved to the new Go menu. It was previously located in the Edit menu.
Compatibility Considerations. Use the new Go menu items instead of Edit > Bookmark features and Edit > Go To.
Use Go > Back (and Go > Forward) to go to lines you previously edited or navigated to in a file, in the sequence you accessed them. The main benefit of this feature is going directly to lines of interest. As an alternative to the menu items, use the Back and Forward buttons on the toolbar.
The Editor/Debugger Keyboard and Indenting preferences pane was renamed to Tab preferences, and keybinding and parentheses-matching preferences were moved to the new Keyboard preferences pane. The parentheses-matching preferences are now called delimiter-matching preferences and are shared with the Command Window.
The M-Lint code analyzer, now built into the Editor/Debugger, continuously checks your code for problems and recommends modifications to maximize performance and maintainability. It performs the same analysis as the existing M-Lint Code Check report, but also provides these features:
Indicates the problem lines and associated M-Lint messages directly in the M-file rather than in a separate report.
Identifies (underlines) code fragments within a line that result in M-Lint messages.
Distinguishes messages that report errors (red) from warnings and suggestions (orange).
Continually analyzes and updates messages as your work so you can see the effect of your changes without having to save the M-file or rerun an M-Lint report.
To use or turn off M-Lint in the Editor/Debugger, select File > Preferences > Editor/Debugger > Language, and for Language, select M. Under Syntax, select Enable M-Lint messages, or clear the check box to turn it off. Use the associated drop-down list to specify the types of code fragments that you want M-Lint to underline, for example, Underline warnings and errors.
The dbstop function now allows you to stop at, (not in), a non M-file, allowing you to view code and variables near it in your M-file. For example, if you want to stop at the point in your M-file myfile.m where the built-in clear function is called, run dbstop in clear; mymfile. Use this feature with caution because the debugger stops in M-files it uses for running and debugging if they contain the non M-file, and then some debugging features do not operate as expected, such as typing help functionname at the K>> prompt.
Cell mode, a useful feature in the Editor/Debugger for publishing results and rapid code iteration, is now enabled by default. An M-file cell is denoted by a %% at the start of a line. Any M-file that contains %% at the start of a line is interpreted as including cells. The Editor/Debugger reflects the cell toolbar state and the cell display preferences, such as yellow highlighting of the current cell and gray horizontal lines between cells.
For quick access to information about using cells in M-files,
use the new information
button on the cell toolbar.
If you do not want cell mode enabled, select Cell > Disable Cell Mode.
MATLAB remembers the cell mode between sessions. If cell mode is disabled when you quit MATLAB, it will be disabled the next time you start MATLAB, and the converse is true.
In MATLAB Version 7.2, the first time you open an M-file in the Editor/Debugger, the cell toolbar appears. If the M-file contains a line beginning with %%, an information bar appears below the cell toolbar, providing links for details about cell mode. To dismiss the information bar, click the close box on the right side of the bar. To hide the cell toolbar, right-click the toolbar and select Cell Toolbar from the context menu.
Compatibility Considerations. In previous versions, cell mode was off by default. The cell toolbar and yellow highlighting or horizontal rules in M-files that contain %% at the start of a line might be unexpected. If you used the %% symbols at the start of a line in M-files for a purpose other than denoting M-file cells, consider replacing the %% symbols with a different indicator, or keep cell mode disabled.
You can set an Editor/Debugger display preference, Show lines between cells, to add a faint gray rule above each cell in an M-file. The line does not print or appear in the published M-file.
Previous versions included an Editor/Debugger display preference to Show bold cell titles. When cleared, cell titles appeared in plain text, rather than bold text. This is no longer a preference you can set — all cell titles now appear in bold text.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are
The M-Lint code analyzer is now built into the Editor/Debugger where it continuously checks your code for problems and recommends modifications to maximize performance and maintainability. For details, see M-Lint Automatic Code Analyzer Checks for Problems and Suggests Improvements.
Compatibility Considerations. The mlint function has changed slightly to support its use in the Editor/Debugger. Specifically, the results returned from mlint with the -id option are of a different form than for previous versions. If you rely on the exact values, you need to make modifications.
For example, this is the form of a message returned in R2006a: L 22 (C 1-9) 2:AssignmentNotUsed : The value assigned here to variable 'nothandle' might never be used.
This is the form of the message from R14SP3: 22 (C 1-9) InefficientUsage:AssignmentNotUsed : The value assigned here to variable 'nothandle' might never be used.
There is now a numeric identifier, followed by the category, for example: 2:AssignmentNotUsed
If you do rely on the exact values, note that there have been very few changes to the message text itself. For example, both R14SP3 and R2006a use the same text: The value assigned here to variable 'nothandle' might never be used.
Because of improvements being made to mlint, the values returned using the -id option are expected to change in the next version as well, particularly the numeric identifier and category form. Do not rely on the exact values returned using mlint with the -id option or you will probably need to make modifications.
nohistory Option Added to profile Function. Use the new profile -nohistory option after having previously set the -history option to disable further recording of history (exact sequence of function calls). All other profiling statistics continue to accumulate.
Accuracy Improved. The Profiler provides more accurate accounting. The total time you see with the Profiler GUI now matches total wall clock time from when you started profiling until you stopped profiling. Overhead associated with the Profiler itself is now applied evenly.
Statistics for Recursive Functions. The profile function now gathers and reports time for recursive functions in the FunctionTable's TotalTime for the function. In previous versions, profile attempted to break out TotalRecursiveTime, which was not always accounted for accurately. The value for TotalRecursiveTime in FunctionTable is no longer used.
This change is also reflected in the Profiler GUI reports.
PartialData Reported in Results, AcceleratorMessages Removed. The FunctionTable now includes the PartialData value. A value of 1 indicates the function was modified during profiling, for example, by being edited or cleared, so data was only collected up until the point it was modified.
In previous versions, FunctionTable included AcceleratorMessages although it was not used. AcceleratorMessages is no longer included.
The Visual Directory view was removed from the Current Directory browser.
Compatibility Considerations. Most of the features it provided are accessible from the Current Directory browser standard view.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
You can now make designated text comments in cells appear italicized in the published output. Use Cell > Insert Text Markup > Italic Text, or use the equivalent markup symbols, underscores, as in _SAMPLE ITALIC TEXT_.
The publish function has a new catchError option that allows you to continue or stop publishing if the M-file contains an error.
New features and changes introduced in Version 7.2 (R2006a) are described here.
The PVCS® source control system (from Merant) now has a new name, ChangeMan® (from Serena®), and the source control interface in MATLAB on UNIX platforms reflects this change.
If you use the ChangeMan software on UNIX platforms, the cmopts value returned for it is pvcs. If you use PVCS software, select ChangeMan in the Source Control Preferences pane.
Compatibility Considerations. PVCS software users on UNIX platforms formerly selected PVCS in the Source Control Preferences pane. Now, PVCS software users select ChangeMan instead.
 | Version 7.2 (R2006a) MATLAB Software | Mathematics, MATLAB Version 7.2 (R2006a) |  |
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