mfile2sci

mfile2sci — Matlab M_file to scilab translation function

Calling sequence

mfile2sci(M_file_path [,result_path [,Imode [,Recmode]]])

Parameters

`M_file_path`	: a character string which gives the path of Matlab M_file to translate
`result_path`	: a character string which gives the directory where the result has to be written. Default value is current directory.
`Imode`	: Boolean flag, If true mfile2sci ask user for variable type and sizes when he cannot infer them. Default value : %f
`Recmode`	: Boolean flag, used by translatepaths function. Must be %f to translate a single mfile.

Description

mfile2sci, is Matlab M-file to Scilab function traduction tools. It tries whenever possible to replace call to Matlab functions by the equivalent scilab primitives and functions.

To translate a Matlab M-file just enter the scilab instruction: mfile2sci(file)

where file is a character string giving the path name of the M-file mfile2sci will generate three files in the same directory

`<function_name>.sci`	: the scilab equivalent of the m_file
`<function_name>.cat`	: the scilab help file associated to the function
`sci_<function_name>.sci`	: the scilab function required to translate the calls to this Matlab M_file in other Matlab M_files. This function may be improved "by hand". This function only useful for translation not for use of translated functions.

Some functions like eye, ones, size, sum,... behave differently according to the dimension of their arguments. When mfile2sci cannot infer dimensions it replaces these function call by a call to an emulation function named mtlb_<function_name>. For efficiency these functions may be replaced by the proper scilab equivalent instructions.

Some other functions like plot, has no straightforward translation in scilab. They are also replaced by an emulation function named mtlb_<function_name>.

When translation may be incorrect or may be improved mfile2sci adds a comment which began by "//!"

Remarks

This function is a still under developpement and is delivered as beta test. Some Matlab4 basic functions are not yet translated. It is quite simple to add it. See <SCIDIR>/macros/m2sci/README for more details.

Known bugs

`1-`	: eval function instructions passed as strings are not translated.
`2-`	: most of plot function are not yet translated
`3-`	: if, for, endded by the end of file produce an error, add the closing end's
`4-`	: Loop variable of for clause is available afterwards if loops terminates normally in matlab; it is cleared in Scilab generated code.
`5-`	: inequality comparison which implies complex numbers produce a run time error such as "undefined variable : %s_2_s". User can define these operation with Matlab meaning with the following function definition: deff('r=%s_1_s(a,b)','r=real(a)<real(b)') deff('r=%s_2_s(a,b)','r=real(a)>real(b)') deff('r=%s_3_s(a,b)','r=real(a)<=real(b)') deff('r=%s_4_s(a,b)','r=real(a)>=real(b)')
`6-`	: When i is a vector, Matlab allows insertions like a(i)=v for any v. In scilab v must have the same shape as a(i). This produces run time errors "submatrix incorrectly defined". Rewrite them as a(i)=v.' .

Examples



//create a simple m_file
write(TMPDIR+'/rot90.m',['function B = rot90(A,k)'
 '[m,n] = size(A);'
 'if nargin == 1'
 '    k = 1;'
 'else'
 '    k = rem(k,4);'
 '    if k < 0'
 '        k = k + 4;'
 '    end'
 'end'
 'if k == 1'
 '    A = A.'';'
 '    B = A(n:-1:1,:);'
 'elseif k == 2'
 '    B = A(m:-1:1,n:-1:1);'
 'elseif k == 3'
 '    B = A(m:-1:1,:);'
 '    B = B.'';'
 'else'
 '    B = A;'
 'end']);
// translate it dor scilab
mfile2sci(TMPDIR+'/rot90.m',TMPDIR)
// show the new code
write(%io(2),read(TMPDIR+'/rot90.sci',-1,1,'(a)'))
// get it into scilab
getf(TMPDIR+'/rot90.sci')
//execute it
m=rand(4,2);rot90(m,1)

Author

Serge Steer, INRIA