MATLAB-DIFF:

	This file tries to discuss most of the ways in which RLaB is
	significantly different from MATLAB. There are a LOT of
	differences; the ones listed herein are the major syntactical,
	and conceptual differences.

	1.) The most significant difference between MATLAB and RLaB is
	the fact the RLaB is copyrighted using the GNU Copyleft. This
	gives you the user, access to the source code.

	2.) The next most significant difference is RLaB's lack of
	context sensitive syntax and operational rules. MATLAB is a
	very powerful mathematical tool, hopefully RLaB will be as
	capable, but with a simpler, more consistent grammar.

	3.) RLaB has distinct data types. NUMBERS, STRINGS, FUNCTIONS,
	and LISTs have different internal representations, and are
	referred to differently by users. 

	4.) Matrices are indexed with square braces [ ], not ( ). For
	example:

	in MATLAB:

		%  Create a matrix
		m = [1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6; 7, 8, 9];
		%  Add the diagonal elements
		d = m(1,1) + m(2,2) + m(3,3)

	in RLaB:

		// Create a matrix
		m = [1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6;, 7, 8, 9];
		// Add the diagonal elements
		d = m[1;1] + m[2;2] + m3;3]

	This example highlights two other differences. a.) comments a
	denoted with `//'. Any text following `//' on a line will be
	ignored. b.) the semi-colon, `;' is used as the row - column
	separator.

	5.) Strings are denoted with the double quote `"' symbol:

		string = "this is a sample string"

	The `"' is the ONLY delimiter used for strings.

	5a.) String matrices in RLaB are composed of a matrix of
	string literals. Therefore, the elements of a string matrix
	can have different lengths. Note that a matrix, or array of
	strings is not merely a reformatted numeric matrix.

	6.) Logical and relational statements: RLaB logical and
	relational statements use a more C-like syntax. See the help
	file `RELATIONAL'.

	6.a) Comparison of complex numbers is performed using the
	absolute value, or magnitude for < > <= >=, not the real part
	only. 

	7.) Flow control: Again RLaB uses a more C-like syntax for
	flow-control statements. See the help files `IF', `WHILE',
	`FOR' for more elaboration.

	8.) User-function syntax and lack of automatic m-file loading.
	RLaB allows users to type in functions interactively, and put
	more than one function in an rfile, Also a mixture of global
	commands and functions can be mixed in a file.  User-functions
	can appear anywhere in an r-file, that is, an r-file can
	consist of a complete program with self-contained functions.
	RLaB DOES NOT automatically load files that end with a `.r'.
	To load existing functions/programs the user must explicitly
	ask RLaB to load the file by typing `load( "file-name" )', or
	by typing `rfile name'.

	9.) RLaB plotting functions are supported by Plplot.

	10.) RLaB's Vector creation goes like:
	
	start : end : increment

	as opposed to MATLAB's 

	start : increment : end.

	11.) RLaB has an imaginary constant, allowing expressions
	like:

	a = 1 + 2i

	Note: MATLAB v4.0 has this feature also

	12.) RLaB does not automatically keep the value of the last
	statement in the variable called `ans'

	13.) The eye( A ) ambiguity (when A is a 1x1 matrix) does not
	exist. I believe MATLAB v4.0 has also resolved this.

	14.) The 2./A ambiguity does not exist either. `3./A' is the
	same as `3 ./ A'. The `.' goes with the `/' operator to form
	an element-by-element operator. Again, I believe MATLAB v4.0
	has also resolved this.

	15.) RLaB's scoping rules are somewhat different from
	MATLAB's. By default all variables in the RLaB workspace,
	files, and user-functions are global. In functions, variables
	can be declared local or global (but default to local), and in
	files variables can be declared static. 

	16.) In general, an attempt was made to follow MATLAB's spirit
	with the builtin functions. However, I have made improvements
	or deviations were it seemed appropriate. As the RLaB language
	was meant to be an evolutionary improvement over the existing
	MATLAB language, so are the linear-algebra functions, which
	use LAPACK, meant to be an inprovement over LINPACK and
	EISPACK.

	17.) Left and right division in RLaB return the mininum-norm
	solution for an underdetermined set of equations. MATLAB does
	something different. MATLAB returns the solution, which has at
	most k (the effective rank of the coefficient matrix) nonzero
	components per column.
