Slow execution of scripts

Hi, I would appreciate if someone could help me out with this. I have a finite element code where I use properties of different materials. These properties are stored in a prop.m file like this:

___________________________

---------*prop.m*----------------

length=1*x; width=2.5*x; height=6.7*x^2; etc

________________________

Now inside the FE code, I need to call this script many times from inside other functions (F_n, n=function number) like run('./prop.m') to give me the properties at the "x" value. I have noticed that the code runs woefully slow when the properties are coded like this and runs much faster when the properties are hardcoded inside the functions. However, I have a lot of different functions that use the same properties and hardcoding it inside each function is not an option. I do realize that running a script is much slower than running a function. Is there a nice way to get the properties inside F_n without having to "run" a script?

One way I have thought of is passing an object from each function such that the parameters are properties of the object. So in F_n, I will use:

Obj=prop(x); length=Obj.length; width=Obj.width; height=Obj.height; etc.

Will this be any faster?

Answer 1

[Jan]

I assume the function will be faster than the script. Simply try it.

Instead of replying one struct, you can reply a list of variables also:

function [length, width, height] = prop(x)
length=1*x;
width=2.5*x;
height=6.7*x^2;
end

Or

function Obj = prop(x)
Obj.length=1*x;
Obj.width=2.5*x;
Obj.height=6.7*x^2;
end

Both has advantages.

By the way: Do not use "length" as name of a variable, because this shadows an important built-in function.