Why do I have to install Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1?

Hello, I downloaded a code from internet and when I tried to run it, I got an error saying "No supported SDK or compiler was found on this computer. For a list of supported compilers, see http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2013b/win64.html" When I click on the link, I get a list that includes Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1 and Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Professional, for example. So my question is, why do I need to install a new program or "compiler"? Shouldn't Matlab be able to compile everything? What's the difference? I know this can be a simple or basic question, but I'm just starting to use Matlab for programming and I sometimes wonder about this kind of things. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

The code you downloaded from the Internet included C or C++ code. MATLAB is not designed to compile code that is written in other computer languages.

You could write a C or C++ compiler in MATLAB. It would take a long time, and at the end it would probably only handle one particular computer architecture and one particular operating system. It is more productive to use an existing compiler that has undergone a lot of testing and optimization, such as SDK 7.1

[Carl R]

Ok, I get it. Thank you very much.