MATLAB Programming

9 Classes and Objects
The diagram shows a user class that inherits from the structure class. All
classes that you create are structure based since this is the point in the class
hierarchy where you can insert your own classes. (For more information about
MATLAB data types, see Chapter 2, “Data Types”)
Creating Objects
You create an object by calling the class constructor and passing it the
appropriate input arguments. In MATLAB, constructors have the same name
as the class name. For example, the statement,
p = polynom([1 0 -2 -5]);
creates an object named p belonging to the class polynom. Once you have
created a polynom object, you can operate on the object using methods that
are defined for the polynom class. See “Example — A Polynomial Class” on
page 9-26 for a description of the polynom class.
Invoking Methods on Objects
Class methods are M-file functions that take an object as one of the input
arguments. The methods for a specific class must be placed in the class
directory for that class (the @classname directory). This is the first place that
MATLAB looks to find a class method.
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