Welcome to MATLAB Central's first Ask Me Anything (AMA) session! Over the next few weeks, I look forward to addressing any questions or curiosities you might have about MATLAB, the forum, sasquatches, or whatever's on your mind. Having volunteered as a contributor to this community before joining MathWorks, I'm excited to act as a bridge between these two worlds. Let's kick things off by sharing a little-known fact about the forum’s staff contributors!
A couple of years ago, before I joined MathWorks as a developer on the Graphics and Charting team, I often wondered who were the MathWorkers with the [staff] moniker answering questions in the Answers forum. Is their MATLAB Central activity part of their day-to-day job expectations? Do they serve specific roles on some kind of community outreach team? Is their work in the forum voluntary in the same way that non-staff contributors volunteer their time?
Now that I'm on the inside, I'd like to share a secret with my fellow MATLAB users and MATLAB Central enthusiasts: with the exception of the MathWorks Support Team, staff participation in the Answers forum is completely voluntary! The staff contributions you see in the forum arise from pure intrinsic motivation to connect with users, help people out of ruts, and spread the word about our product!
For example, Steven Lord has contributed 20-150 answers per month for 9 years! Steven is a quality engineer for core MATLAB numerical functions. Cris LaPierre develops training material and has been a faithful contributor in the forum for almost 6 years! Kojiro Saito and Akira Agata have been tackling Japanese content for more than 7 years! There are many others who have inspired me as a user, and I am honored to now call colleagues: Peter Perkins, Michio, Joss Knight, Alan Weiss, Jiro Doke, Edric Ellis, and many others who deserve appreciation.
The forum's success hinges on the invaluable contributions from the majority of non-staff volunteers, whose dedication and expertise fuel our community. But I know I wasn't alone in wondering about these staff contributors, so now you're in on the secret!
I'm curious to know what other topics you're interested in learning about. Ask me anything!
Temporary print statements are often helpful during debugging but it's easy to forget to remove the statements or sometimes you may not have writing privileges for the file. This tip uses conditional breakpoints to add print statements without ever editing the file!
What are conditional breakpoints?
Conditional breakpoints allow you to write a conditional statement that is executed when the selected line is hit and if the condition returns true, MATLAB pauses at that line. Otherwise, it continues.
The Hack: use ~fprintf() as the condition
fprintf prints information to the command window and returns the size of the message in bytes. The message size will always be greater than 0 which will always evaluate as true when converted to logical. Therefore, by negating an fprintf statement within a conditional breakpoint, the fprintf command will execute, print to the command window, and evalute as false which means the execution will continue uninterupted!
How to set a conditional break point
1. Right click the line number where you want the condition to be evaluated and select "Set Conditional Breakpoint"
2. Enter a valid MATLAB expression that returns a logical scalar value in the editor dialog.
Handy one-liners
Check if a line is reached: Don't forget the negation (~) and the line break (\n)!
~fprintf('Entered callback function\n')
Display the call stack from the break point line: one of my favorites!
Make sense of frequent hits: In some situations such as responses to listeners or interactive callbacks, a line can be executed 100s of times per second. Incorporate a timestamp to differentiate messages during rapid execution.
This tip not only keeps your code clean but also offers a dynamic way to monitor code execution and variable states without permanent modifications. Interested in digging deeper? @Steve Eddins takes this tip to the next level with his Code Trace for MATLAB tool available on the File Exchange (read more).
As far as I know, the MATLAB Community (including Matlab Central and Mathworks' official GitHub repository) has always been a vibrant and diverse professional and amateur community of MATLAB users from various fields globally. Being a part of it myself, especially in recent years, I have not only benefited continuously from the community but also tried to give back by helping other users in need.
I am a senior MATLAB user from Shenzhen, China, and I have a deep passion for MATLAB, applying it in various scenarios. Due to the less than ideal job market in my current social environment, I am hoping to find a position for remote support work within the Matlab Community. I wonder if this is realistic. For instance, Mathworks has been open-sourcing many repositories in recent years, especially in the field of deep learning with typical applications across industries. I am eager to use the latest MATLAB features to implement state-of-the-art algorithms. Additionally, I occasionally contribute through GitHub issues and pull requests.
In conclusion, I am looking forward to the opportunity to formally join the Matlab Community in a remote support role, dedicating more energy to giving back to the community and making the world a better place! (If a Mathworks employer can contact me, all the better~)
We're thrilled to unveil a new feature in the MATLAB Central community: User Following.
Our community is so lucky to have many experienced MATLAB experts who generously share their knowledge and insights across different applications, including Answers, File Exchange, Discussions, Contests, or Blogs.
With the introduction of User Following feature, you can now easily track new content across different areas and engage in discussions with people you follow. Simply click the ‘Follow’ button located on their profile page to start.
Depending on your communication setting, you will receive notifications via email and/or view updates in your ‘Followed Activity’ feeds. To tailor your feed, select the ‘People’ filter and focus on activities from those you follow.
We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the User Following feature to foster learning and collaboration within our vibrant community.
Who will be the first person you choose to follow? Share your answer in the comments section below and let's inspire each other to explore new horizons together.
I am excited to announce that I am currently working on a book project centered around Matrix Algebra, specifically designed for MATLAB users. This book aims to cater to undergraduate students in engineering, where Matrix Algebra serves as a foundational element.
Matrix Algebra is not only pivotal in understanding complex engineering concepts but also in applying these principles effectively in various technological solutions. MATLAB, renowned for its powerful computational capabilities, is an excellent tool to explore and implement these concepts, making it a perfect companion for this book.
As I embark on this journey to create a resource that bridges theoretical matrix algebra with practical MATLAB applications, I am looking for one or two knowledgeable individuals who have a firm grasp of both subjects. If you have experience in teaching or applying matrix algebra in engineering contexts and are familiar with MATLAB, your contribution could be invaluable.
Collaborators will help in shaping the content to ensure it is educational, engaging, and technically robust, making complex concepts accessible and applicable for students.
If you are interested in contributing to this project or know someone who might be, please reach out to discuss how we can work together to make this book a valuable resource for engineering students.
Thank you and looking forward to your participation!
I created an ellipse visualizer in #MATLAB using App Designer! To read more about it, and how it ties to the recent total solar eclipse, check out my latest blog post:
As we continue to explore, learn, and innovate together, it's essential to take a moment to recognize the remarkable contributions that have sparked engaging discussions, solved perplexing problems, and shared insightful knowledge in the past two weeks. Let's dive into the highlights that have made our community even more vibrant and resourceful.
Burhan Burak brings up an intriguing issue faced when running certain code in MATLAB, seeking advice on how to refactor the code to eliminate a warning message. It's a great example of the practical challenges we often encounter
Jenni asks for guidance on improving linear models to fit data points more accurately. This question highlights the common hurdles in data analysis and model fitting, sparking a conversation on best practices and methodologies.
A thought-provoking question posed by goc3 that delves into the intricacies of MATLAB's logical operations. It's a great discussion starter that tests and expands our understanding of MATLAB's behavior.
Toshiaki Takeuchi shares an insightful visualization of the demand for MATLAB jobs across different regions, based on data from LinkedIn. This post not only provides a snapshot of the job market but also encourages members to discuss trends in MATLAB's use in the industry.
Mike Croucher shares his excitement and insights on two long-awaited features finally making their way into MATLAB R2024a. His post reflects the passion and persistence of our community members in enhancing MATLAB's functionality.
In this informative post, Sivylla Paraskevopoulou offers practical tips for speeding up the training of deep learning models. It's a must-read for anyone looking to optimize their deep learning workflows.
A Heartfelt Thank You 🙏
To everyone who asked a question, started a discussion, or wrote a blog post: Thank you! Your contributions are what make our community a fountain of knowledge, inspiration, and innovation. Let's keep the momentum going and continue to support each other in our journey to explore the vast universe of MATLAB.
Happy Coding!
Note: If you haven't yet, make sure to check out these highlights and add your voice to our growing community. Your insights and experiences are what make us stronger.
You can download these toolkits from the provided links.
The reason for writing this article is that many people have started using the chord diagram plotting toolkit that I developed. However, some users are unsure about customizing certain styles. As the developer, I have a good understanding of the implementation principles of the toolkit and can apply it flexibly. This has sparked the idea of challenging myself to create various styles of chord diagrams. Currently, the existing code is quite lengthy. In the future, I may integrate some of this code into the toolkit, enabling users to achieve the effects of many lines of code with just a few lines.
Without further ado, let's see the extent to which this MATLAB toolkit can currently perform.
Congratulations, @Fangjun Jiang for achieving 10K reputation points.
You reached this milestone by providing valuable contribution to the community since you started answering questions in Since September 2011.
You were very active in the first year, and took some break, but you steadily rose ranks in the recent years to achieve this milestone.
You provided 3954 answers and received 1503 votes. You are ranked #25 in the community. Thank you for your contribution to the community and please keep up the good track record!
In honor of National Pet Day on April 11th, we're excited to announce a fun contest that combines two of our favorite things: our beloved pets and our passion for MATLAB/Simulink! Whether you're a cat enthusiast, a dog lover, or a companion to any other pet, we invite you to join in the fun and showcase your creativity.
How to Participate:
Take a photo of your pet featuring any element of MATLAB/Simulink.
Post it in the Fun channelof the Discussions area.
Include a brief description or story behind the photo - we love to hear about your pets and your creative process!
🏆Prizes:
We will be selecting 3 winners for this contest, and each winner will receive a MathWorks T-shirt or hat! Winners will be chosen based on creativity, originality, and how well they incorporate the MATLAB/Simulink element into their photo.
📅Important Dates:
Contest ends on April 12th, 2024, at 11:59:59 pm, Eastern Time
We can't wait to see all of your adorable and creative pet photos. Let's celebrate National Pet Day in true MathWorks style. Good luck, and most importantly, have fun!