How can I interface MATLAB code with C, C++, or FORTRAN?
Date Last Modified: Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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1-GQC9NF |
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MATLAB |
| Reported in Release: |
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R2011b |
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All Platforms |
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All OS |
Subject:
How can I interface MATLAB code with C, C++, or FORTRAN?
Problem Description:
I would like to develop certain parts of my code in C, C++, or FORTRAN and others in MATLAB.
How do I develop an application that uses a combination of MATLAB with the three programming languages?
Solution:
Section 1: Calling C, C++, or FORTRAN code from MATLAB. One can call your existing C, C++, or FORTRAN programs from MATLAB by creating MEX-files.
What is a MEX file? MEX is a built-in utility that enables you to call C, C++, or FORTRAN code in MATLAB by compiling your code into a MATLAB Executable called a MEX-file. MEX-files are dynamically linked subroutines that are called as regular MATLAB functions. This requires you to replace your application's main() with a special gateway function - called "mexFunction" - to pass inputs and outputs to and from MATLAB. MEX is discussed in the MATLAB External Interfaces Guide. For in-depth examples and other detailed MEX information, see the MEX-files Guide, Technical Note 1605. To use MEX, you do not need additional MathWorks products; all you need is MATLAB and a supported C, C++, or FORTRAN compiler. On 32-bit Windows, a supported C compiler (LCC) is distributed with MATLAB. See the Supported and Compatible Compiler list for a complete list of supported C compilers. For example, to compile foo.c into a MEX function, use the following syntax:
mex foo.c
The documentation has several examples of C and C++ MEX-files and FORTRAN MEX-files.
Section 2: Calling MATLAB from C, C++, or FORTRAN stand-alone programs. The MATLAB Engine allows C, C++, or FORTRAN programs to communicate with a separate MATLAB process via pipes in UNIX and through ActiveX on Windows. For more information on the MATLAB Engine, see using the MATLAB Engine.
Section 3: Converting my MATLAB code into a C or C++ shared library. You can convert MATLAB code into a C or C++ shared library using the MATLAB Compiler. This shared library can then be incorporated into a Visual Studio project, or be combined with a driver file into a stand-alone application. To compile your MATLAB code, for example foo1.m and foo2.m, into a C shared library use the following syntax:
mcc -B csharedlib:libmyfoo foo1.m foo2.m
For an example on building a C shared library and a driver file, refer to the C shared library example of the documentation. It is further possible to integrate these shared libraries into Visual Studio applications.
Section 4: Knowing when one would need to buy MATLAB Compiler and when one would need only MATLAB. If one has C, C++, or FORTRAN code and wants to (a) generate MEX-files to execute C, C++, or FORTRAN code in MATLAB, or (b) link to a MATLAB session in order to execute MATLAB code in C, C++, or FORTRAN in a stand-alone program you need MATLAB and a supported C, C++, or FORTRAN compiler to compile the source code.
If you have C or C++ code as well as MATLAB code and you want to (a) create a C or C++ shared library to integrate into an existing application and custom MATLAB code, or (b) create a COM/ .NET object from MATLAB code using MATLAB Builder for .NET to integrate with an existing Visual Studio application, or (c) create an Excel plug-in from MATLAB code using MATLAB Builder for Excel to integrate with an existing Excel project you need MATLAB, MATLAB Compiler, and a supported C, C++, or FORTRAN compiler to compile the source code.
The following link will provide a list of supported C, C++, or FORTRAN compiler to compile the source code. http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2011b/win32.html
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