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From: Rune Allnor <allnor@tele.ntnu.no>
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
Subject: Re: matlab backward compatibility options
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:16:26 -0700 (PDT)
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On 23 Sep, 15:14, Roni Miholovic <rmiholo...@invalid.com> wrote:
> I've searched but couldn't find anything on the subject. The other
> day, there were some talks at my company about acquiring a few matlab
> licences for projects on a long term basis (we have some fortran code
> from the sixties still in active use).
>
> And one of the subjects that came up was whether matlab has some
> official policy regarding backward compatibility - I, for once,
> haven't been able to find it.
>
> Does anyone know what is mathworks's stand on this, and how does
> matlab rank practically when it comes to backwards compatibility ? For
> example, on the current version, what is the oldest active code which
> will still run without any modifications ?

Matlab has changed in a few ways, over the 20'ish years
I have used it:

- Functions have been moved from the basic lisences out
  to specialized toolboxes (filter design functions in
  matlab 3 have moved to the Signal Processing Toolbox)
- Functions have become obsolete in the sense that they have
  been redesigned / reimplemented / renamed (the REMEZ
  filter design algorithm is obsolete).

There aren't very many such functions, but it might be
enough to matter.

There is also a present development, as matlab evolves from
its origins as a lap tool, towards a jack-of-all-trades
computation system. I must admit that I haven't kept up
with all the newest bells and whistles, but it seems to me
that what the newest additions that work with the present
release might have to be re-coded after the features mature
over a couple of years.

If you are thinking code stability in the time frame of
decades, matlab might not be your first choise.

Rune