Octave supports a number of different array and matrix classes, the majority of which are based on the Array class. The exception is the sparse matrix types discussed separately below. There are three basic matrix types
MatrixComplexMatrixBoolMatrixThese are the basic two-dimensional matrix types of octave. In additional there are a number of multi-dimensional array types, these being
NDArrayComplexNDarrayboolNDArrayint8NDArrayint16NDArrayint32NDArrayint64NDArrayuint8NDArrayuint16NDArrayuint32NDArrayuint64NDArrayThere are several basic means of constructing matrices of
multi-dimensional arrays. Considering the Matrix type as an
example
Matrix a;
This can be used on all matrix and array types
dim_vector dv (2);
dv(0) = 2; dv(1) = 2;
Matrix a (dv);
This can be used on all matrix and array types
Matrix a (2, 2)
However, this constructor can only be used with the matrix types.
These types all share a number of basic methods and operators, a selection of which include
The
()operator orelemmethod allow the values of the matrix or array to be read or set. These can take a single argument, which is of typeoctave_idx_type, that is the index into the matrix or array. Additionally, the matrix type allows two argument versions of the()operator and elem method, giving the row and column index of the value to obtain or set.
Note that these functions do significant error checking and so in some circumstances the user might prefer to access the data of the array or matrix directly through the fortran_vec method discussed below.
The dimensions of the matrix or array in value of type dim_vector.
A method taking either an argument of type
dim_vector, or in the case of a matrix two arguments of typeoctave_idx_typedefining the number of rows and columns in the matrix.
This method returns a pointer to the underlying data of the matrix or a array so that it can be manipulated directly, either within Octave or by an external library.
Operators such an +, -, or * can be used on the
majority of the above types. In addition there are a number of methods
that are of interest only for matrices such as transpose,
hermitian, solve, etc.
The typical way to extract a matrix or array from the input arguments of
DEFUN_DLD function is as follows
#include <octave/oct.h>
DEFUN_DLD (addtwomatrices, args, , "Add A to B")
{
int nargin = args.length ();
if (nargin != 2)
print_usage ();
else
{
NDArray A = args(0).array_value ();
NDArray B = args(1).array_value ();
if (! error_state)
return octave_value (A + B);
}
return octave_value_list ();
}
To avoid segmentation faults causing Octave to abort, this function
explicitly checks that there are sufficient arguments available before
accessing these arguments. It then obtains two multi-dimensional arrays
of type NDArray and adds these together. Note that the array_value
method is called without using the is_matrix_type type, and instead the
error_state is checked before returning A + B. The reason to
prefer this is that the arguments might be a type that is not an
NDArray, but it would make sense to convert it to one. The
array_value method allows this conversion to be performed
transparently if possible, and sets error_state if it is not.
A + B, operating on two NDArray's returns an
NDArray, which is cast to an octave_value on the return
from the function. An example of the use of this demonstration function
is
addtwomatrices (ones (2, 2), ones (2, 2))
⇒ 2 2
2 2
A list of the basic Matrix and Array types, the methods to
extract these from an octave_value and the associated header is
listed below.
RowVector | row_vector_value | dRowVector.h
|
ComplexRowVector | complex_row_vector_value | CRowVector.h
|
ColumnVector | column_vector_value | dColVector.h
|
ComplexColumnVector | complex_column_vector_value | CColVector.h
|
Matrix | matrix_value | dMatrix.h
|
ComplexMatrix | complex_matrix_value | CMatrix.h
|
boolMatrix | bool_matrix_value | boolMatrix.h
|
charMatrix | char_matrix_value | chMatrix.h
|
NDArray | array_value | dNDArray.h
|
ComplexNDArray | complex_array_value | CNDArray.h
|
boolNDArray | bool_array_value | boolNDArray.h
|
charNDArray | char_array_value | charNDArray.h
|
int8NDArray | int8_array_value | int8NDArray.h
|
int16NDArray | int16_array_value | int16NDArray.h
|
int32NDArray | int32_array_value | int32NDArray.h
|
int64NDArray | int64_array_value | int64NDArray.h
|
uint8NDArray | uint8_array_value | uint8NDArray.h
|
uint16NDArray | uint16_array_value | uint16NDArray.h
|
uint32NDArray | uint32_array_value | uint32NDArray.h
|
uint64NDArray | uint64_array_value | uint64NDArray.h
|