Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.2
Screenshot of MATLAB
Text Editor
showing the content of the fi le
geochem.txt
. The
fi rst line of the text is commented by a percent sign at the beginning of the line, followed by
the actual data matrix.
MAT-fi les
are double-precision, binary fi les using
.mat
as extension. The
advantage of these binary mat-fi les is that they are independent from the
computer platforms running different fl oating-point formats. The command
save geochem_new.mat geochem
saves only the variable
geochem
instead of the entire workspace. The op-
tion -
ascii
, for example
save geochem_new.txt geochem -ascii
again saves the variable
geochem
, but in an ASCII fi le named
geochem_new.
txt
. In contrast to the binary fi le
geochem_new.mat,
this ASCII fi le can be
viewed and edited by using the MATLAB Editor or any other text editor.
2.6 Scripts and Functions
MATLAB is a powerful programming language. All fi les containing
MATLAB code use
.m
as extension and are therefore called
M-fi les
. These
fi les contain ASCII text and can be edited using a standard text editor.
However, the built-in Editor color highlights various syntax elements such
as comments (in green), keywords such as
if
,
for
and
end
(blue) and charac-
ter strings (pink). This syntax highlighting eases MATLAB coding.
