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Results for


Always!
29%
It depends
14%
Never!
21%
I didn't know that was possible
36%
1810 Stimmen
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 8 Sep. 2024

+1 for Backwards Loops!

Base case:
Suppose you need to do a computation many times. We are going to assume that this computation cannot be vectorized. The simplest case is to use a for loop:
number_of_elements = 1e6;
test_fcn = @(x) sqrt(x) / x;
tic
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward = toc;
disp(t_forward + " seconds")
0.10925 seconds
Preallocation:
This can easily be sped up by preallocating the variable that houses results:
tic
x = zeros(number_of_elements, 1);
for i = 1:number_of_elements
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_forward_prealloc = toc;
disp(t_forward_prealloc + " seconds")
0.035106 seconds
In this example, preallocation speeds up the loop by a factor of about three to four (running in R2024a). Comment below if you get dramatically different results.
disp(sprintf("%.1f", t_forward / t_forward_prealloc))
3.1
Run it in reverse:
Is there a way to skip the explicit preallocation and still be fast? Indeed, there is.
clear x
tic
for i = number_of_elements:-1:1
x(i) = test_fcn(i);
end
t_backward = toc;
disp(t_backward + " seconds")
0.032392 seconds
By running the loop backwards, the preallocation is implicitly performed during the first iteration and the loop runs in about the same time (within statistical noise):
disp(sprintf("%.2f", t_forward_prealloc / t_backward))
1.08
Do you get similar results when running this code? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Beneficial side effect:
Have you ever had to use a for loop to delete elements from a vector? If so, keeping track of index offsets can be tricky, as deleting any element shifts all those that come after. By running the for loop in reverse, you don't need to worry about index offsets while deleting elements.
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 30 Sep. 2024

My favorite type of Cody problem is:

quick / easy
21%
themed / in a group
20%
challenge (e.g., banned functions)
13%
puzzle / game
16%
educational
28%
other (comment below)
3%
117 Stimmen
isstring
11%
ischar
7%
iscellstr
13%
isletter
21%
isspace
9%
ispunctuation
37%
2455 Stimmen
Don't use / What are Projects?
26%
1–10
31%
11–20
15%
21–30
9%
31–50
7%
51+ (comment below)
12%
4070 Stimmen
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 7 Okt. 2024

How many spaces per tab do you prefer?

2
17%
3
12%
4
59%
6
4%
8
5%
Other (comment below)
3%
6419 Stimmen
numel(v)
6%
length(v)
13%
width(v)
14%
nnz(v)
8%
size(v, 1)
27%
sum(v > 0)
31%
2537 Stimmen
ismissing( { [ ] } )
26%
ismissing( NaN )
18%
ismissing( NaT )
11%
ismissing( missing )
21%
ismissing( categorical(missing) )
9%
ismissing( { '' } ) % 2 apostrophes
16%
896 Stimmen
isempty( [ ] )
10%
isempty( { } )
13%
isempty( '' ) % 2 single quotes
13%
isempty( "" ) % 2 double quotes
24%
c = categorical( [ ] ); isempty(c)
18%
s = struct("a", [ ] ); isempty(s.a)
22%
1324 Stimmen
sort(v)
8%
unique(v)
16%
union(v, [ ])
17%
intersect(v, v)
14%
setdiff(v, [ ])
12%
All return sorted output
33%
1193 Stimmen
s = ['M','A','T','L','A','B']
9%
char([77,65,84,76,65,66])
7%
"MAT" + "LAB"
21%
upper(char('matlab' - '0' + 48))
17%
fliplr("BALTAM")
17%
rot90(rot90('BALTAM'))
30%
2929 Stimmen
eye(3) - diag(ones(1,3))
11%
0 ./ ones(3)
9%
cos(repmat(pi/2, [3,3]))
16%
zeros(3)
20%
A(3, 3) = 0
32%
mtimes([1;1;0], [0,0,0])
12%
3009 Stimmen
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 6 Nov. 2023

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Have you ever learned that something you were doing manually in MATLAB was already possible using a built-in feature? Have you ever written a function only to later realize (or be told) that a built-in function already did what you needed?
Two such moments come to mind for me.
1. Did you realize that you can set conditional breakpoints? Neither did I, until someone showed me that feature. To do that, open or create a file in the editor, right click on a line number for any line that contains code, and select Set Conditional Breakpoint... This will bring up a dialog wherein you can type any logical condition for which execution should be paused. Before I learned about this, I would manually insert if-statements during debugging. Then, after fixing each bug, I would have to delete those statements. This built-in feature is so much better.
2. Have you ever needed to plot horizontal or vertical lines in a plot? For the longest time, I would manually code such lines. Then, I learned about xline() and yline(). Not only is less code required, these lines automatically span the entire axes while zooming, panning, or adjusting axis limits!
Share your own Aha! moments below. This will help everyone learn about MATLAB functionality that may not be obvious or front and center.
(Note: While File Exchange contains many great contributions, the intent of this thread is to focus on built-in MATLAB functionality.)
1
33%
2
34%
3
18%
4
5%
5
3%
6+
6%
1643 Stimmen
<= 6 GB
10%
7–12 GB
26%
13–22 GB
34%
23–46 GB
19%
47–90 GB
6%
>= 91 GB
6%
15925 Stimmen
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 18 Jul. 2023

Do you use test-driven development in MATLAB?

Yes, the available tools are great
12%
Yes, the available tools need help
6%
No, but I would like to
14%
No, it is not important to me
7%
What is test-driven development?
61%
1955 Stimmen
Always
12%
Sometimes
11%
In the past, but not now
3%
Never
20%
What is Simulink Project?
53%
2443 Stimmen
Always
8%
Sometimes
9%
In the past, but not now
2%
Never
23%
What is MATLAB Project?
58%
4533 Stimmen
A bunch of quick, simple problems
16%
A structured, educational set
15%
Brain-teasers
16%
Random miscellany
3%
Something else
2%
What are Problem Groups?
49%
1777 Stimmen
goc3
goc3
Last activity am 6 Apr. 2020

Cody - Draw Letters

Cody has a wealth of problem groups that allow users of various skill levels to improve programming skills vis-à-vis MATLAB in an engaging way.

I would like to highlight the Draw Letters group, composed of problems created by Majid Farzaneh.

If you haven't yet visited Cody or solved that problem group, I would recommend that you head over there now. What are you waiting for?