MATLAB Object-Oriented Programming

Methods in Class Design

In this section...

“Class Methods” on page 9-2

“Examples and Syntax” on page 9-2

“Kinds of Methods” on page 9-3

“Method Naming” on page 9-4

Class Methods

Methods are functions that implement the operations performed on objects of a class.

Methods, along with other class members support the concept of encapsulation—class

instances contain data in properties and class methods operate on that data. This design

allows the internal workings of classes to be hidden from code outside of the class, and

thereby enabling the class implementation to change without affecting code that is

external to the class.

Methods have access to private members of their class including other methods and

properties. This encapsulation enables you to hide data and create special interfaces that

must be used to access the data stored in objects.

Examples and Syntax

For an example to get started writing classes, see “Create a Simple Class” on page 2-2

For sample code and syntax, see “Methods and Functions” on page 5-15

For a discussion of how to create classes that modify standard MATLAB behavior, see

“Methods That Modify Default Behavior” on page 17-2.

For information on the use of @ and path directors and packages to organize your class

files, see “Class Files and Folders” on page 5-2

For the syntax to use when defining classes in more than one file, see “Methods in

Separate Files” on page 9-11

9 Methods — Defining Class Operations