difference between matlab 6.1r12.1 and matlab 7.13r2011a

please tell me difference between the older version of matlab viz. matlab6.1r12.1 and matlab7.13r2011a. What are the advances of using newer version.

Answer 1

[Jan]

The biggest advantages of a modern MATLAB release -in my eyes-:

1. MLint: It parses the source code and tries to locate bugs and inefficient code. It displays suggestions directly in the editor. This is a very efficient and convenient support of the debugging, which is the most tedious and important part when creating programs.
2. Modern MATLAB versions run under modern operating systems: You cannot run R12 under Windows7. I do not love Windows 7 more than Windows2k, it is more stable and more secure if you have internet access.
3. Multi-threading and much RAM: A modern MATLAB profits from multiple cores and the 64 bit versions can use more than 3GB of RAM.
4. New commands: bsxfun, typecast, cast, a|numel|</a>, fread with fast internal casting of the output, a|uigetdir|</a>, continue, short-circuiting by the && and operators, true is faster than LOGICAL(1), a|mfilename|</a>('fullpath'), a|regexp|</a>, movefile, winopen, timer, uitable, uitree, ...
5. New syntax: block comments, nested functions, dynamic fieldnames like A.('name') instead of the lame SETFIELD of ancient MATLAB versions, function handles and anonymous functions, new object oriented coding, ...
6. Built-in arithmetics for (U)INT64 and SINGLE.

The migration from R12 to a modern release is not trivial. About 10 or 20 of the core functions have been removed or replaced: path2rc -> savepath, textread -> textscan, strmatch is deprecated, etc. Only a few functions have changed their behaviour, which is much harder to detect, e.g. fopen does not support the VAXD-format anymore (yes, I've mentioned it a 100 times now!).

But I estimate that for large programs the number of bugs found by MLint will exceed the number of problems caused by migrating. And the new capabilities even for the core MATLAB routines will make the development and maintenance of existing programs much easier.

Sorry for repeating myself: It would be a big advantage to collect the changes of functions in a well defined place. E.g. a short version history in each function after the help text, or a database, which can be accessed freely through the web. A report like "bsxfun: changes R12 to R2011b" in text format would be such a marvelous support for a migration.

But as long, as this is not available, I'd strongly suggest to read the release notes. Better read the facts in few days than find them out in weeks spent for debugging.

[EDITED] 30-Sep-2011, 07:24 The behavior of STRNCMP has been changed in 2010b, see Answers: Changes of STRNCMP. It is not easy to find a corresponding explanation in the releasenotes or the compatibility reports - to be exact: I found an almost correct message only in this bug report (thanks to Wayne King for assistence!).

[Walter Roberson]

Also, the significantly improved Just In Time (JIT) compiler.

[Jan]

Yes, Walter, this is very important. It was efficient in 6.5 already, but the OP asked for 6.1.

[koushal]

thanks simon , i found ur answer useful.

Answer 2

[Andreas Goser]

In theory, you could read all the release notes in the last ten years since MATLAB 6.1. But would costs you days of pure reading new features. You likely don't want that...

The advantages of newer releases depend on what you do / want to do. Can you describe your application(s) or field of work?

If you have just this old version and consider buying a new one - then the best approach is to contact your Sales representative for help with what you can benefit from it.

[koushal]

My applications include general physical calculations, scientific data processing, scientific simulations, visualization of data in 2d&3d, interfacing and data acquisition from detectors and similar.

Since matlab is not free can u tell me in detail what would be benefits in purchasing a new version

[Jan]

@koushal: Have you seen my answer?

Answer 3

[Daniel Shub]

It is important to note that the on-line release notes do not even go back that far.

http://www.mathworks.co.uk/help/techdoc/rn/rn_intro.html

One big change is related to licensing and activation.

I would suggest talking to TMW to find out about how your workflow would be influenced by changing.