MATLAB Object-Oriented Programming

Methods That Modify Default Behavior

In this section...

“How to Customize Class Behavior” on page 17-2

“Which Methods Control Which Behaviors” on page 17-2

“Overload Functions and Override Methods” on page 17-4

How to Customize Class Behavior

There are functions that MATLAB calls implicitly when you perform certain actions with

objects. For example, a statement like [B(1);A(3)] involves indexed reference and

vertical concatenation.

You can change how user-defined objects behave by defining methods that control specific

behaviors. To change a behavior, implement the appropriate method with the name and

signature of the MATLAB function.

Which Methods Control Which Behaviors

The following table lists the methods to implement for your class and describes the

behaviors that they control.

Class Method to Implement Description

Concatenating Objects

cat, horzcat, and vertcat Customize behavior when concatenating objects

See “Subclasses of Built-In Types with Properties”

on page 12-68

Creating Empty Arrays

empty Create empty arrays of the specified class. See

“Empty Arrays” on page 10-8

Displaying Objects

17 Specialize Object Behavior