Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
Release Notes
R2018a
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
How to Contact MathWorks
Latest news:
Sales and services:
User community:
Technical support:
Phone:
www.mathworks.com
www.mathworks.com/sales_and_services
www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral
www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us
508-647-7000
The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA 01760-2098
Release Notes
© COPYRIGHT 2018 by The MathWorks, Inc.
The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. The software may be
used or copied only under the terms of the license agreement. No part of this manual may be photocopied
or reproduced in any form without prior written consent from The MathWorks, Inc.
FEDERAL ACQUISITION: This provision applies to all acquisitions of the Program and Documentation
by, for, or through the federal government of the United States. By accepting delivery of the Program or
Documentation, the government hereby agrees that this software or documentation qualifies as
commercial computer software or commercial computer software documentation as such terms are used or
defined in FAR 12.212, DFARS Part 227.72, and DFARS 252.227-7014. Accordingly, the terms and
conditions of this Agreement and only those rights specified in this Agreement, shall pertain to and govern
the use, modification, reproduction, release, performance, display, and disclosure of the Program and
Documentation by the federal government (or other entity acquiring for or through the federal
government) and shall supersede any conflicting contractual terms or conditions. If this License fails to
meet the government's needs or is inconsistent in any respect with federal procurement law, the
government agrees to return the Program and Documentation, unused, to The MathWorks, Inc.
Trademarks
MATLAB and Simulink are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc. See
www.mathworks.com/trademarks for a list of additional trademarks. Other product or brand
names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Patents
MathWorks products are protected by one or more U.S. patents. Please see
www.mathworks.com/patents for more information.
Revision History
March 2018
New for Release 2018a
Online only
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
Contents
1
Release Notes
New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1-2
License-Related Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Installation and Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1-28
1-29
1-30
1-30
iii
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement 1
Release Notes
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
1 Release Notes
New Features
MATLAB
Desktop
• Live Editor: Create live functions with richly formatted documentation including
equations and images
• Live Editor: Debug live functions and scripts
• Live Editor: Add sliders and drop-downs to control variable values in a live script
• Live Editor: Sort table data interactively
• Live Editor: Create a table of contents and add formatted code examples
• Live Editor: Select and edit a rectangular area of code
• Add-Ons Explorer: Browse by category to discover convenient, helpful add-ons
Mathematics
• graph and digraph Objects: Work with multigraphs that have multiple edges
between two nodes
• GraphPlot Object: Visualize graphs with additional options for 'force', 'force3',
and 'circle' layouts
• polyshape Objects: Analyze polygons with turningdist, nearestvertex, and
overlaps functions
• polybuffer Function: Create buffer around points or lines
Graphics
• Axes Object: View axes at small size with improved layout, limit selection, and font
scaling
• Axes Object: Map data values to colormap using linear or logarithmic scale
• Legend Object: Create legends with multiple columns
• heatmap Function: Zoom and pan data, display data tips, and sort rows and columns
interactively
• geobubble Function: Explore with interactive datatips and a scalebar
1-2
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
New Features
Data Import and Export
• readtable function: Specify the number of rows to read from a text file using import
options
• readtable function: Easily manage prefixes and suffixes from data using import
options
• preview function: Preview first 8 rows of a table in a file without importing the full
table
• imageDatastore function: Work with millions of images with improved memory
usage and performance
• VideoReader function: Read video files faster on all platforms
Data Analysis
• groupsummary Function: Group and discretize data for summary operations on table
and timetable variables
• table and timetable Data Containers: Add, delete, and rearrange column-oriented
variables with the functions addvars, removevars, movevars, splitvars,
mergevars, rows2vars, and inner2outer
• timetable Data Container: Create regularly spaced timetables using a time step or
sampling rate
• table and timetable Data Containers: Create space in tables and timetables for
variables of specified sizes and data types
• retime and synchronize Functions: Synchronize timetables to a time step or
sampling rate that you specify
• duration Arrays: Create duration arrays from text that represents elapsed times
• normalize Function: Normalize array, table, and timetable data
• tall Arrays: Operate on tall arrays with more functions, including smoothdata,
find, and isoutlier
App Building
• App Designer: Create deployed web apps using MATLAB Compiler
• App Designer: Add and configure tree components on the App Designer canvas
• App Testing Framework: Author automated tests for App Designer apps
1-3
Confidential Prerelease Documentation — Subject to Nondisclosure Agreement
1 Release Notes
• Figure Objects: Maximize and minimize figures programmatically
• uitable Function: Specify data as table array
• uidatepicker Function: Add date selection controls to apps
• uiprogressdlg Function: Create modal in-app progress dialog boxes to apps
Performance
• Startup: Increased speed of MATLAB startup time
• Execution Engine: Execute tight loops with scalar math faster
• Execution Engine: Improved performance for common programming patterns
Advanced Software Development
• Unit Testing Framework: Run tests from the MATLAB Editor toolstrip
• App Testing Framework: Author automated tests for App Designer apps
• matlab.net.http: Stream data to and from a web service and handle forms and
multipart messages
• MEX: Author MEX functions using the new C++ API to MATLAB Data Arrays
Simulink
Simulation Analysis and Performance
• Simulation Data Inspector in the Live Editor: Add, view, and edit Simulation Data
Inspector plots directly in the Live Editor
• Simulation Pacing: Run simulations at wall clock speed or other specified pace for
improved visualization
• Controllable Sample Time: Adjust the time interval for block execution during the
simulation, for example, to vary the sampling frequency
• Domain Specification: Improve your solver performance and code by specifying the
domains of subsystems within your model
• Diagnostic Handling: Directly fix errors and warnings from diagnostic messages, such
as algebraic loops, as well as manage suppressed diagnostics
1-4