MacResearch

Unless it's improved in R2009, the Mac OS X version of MATLAB was a barely-tweaked version of MATLAB for Linux (which is why the menu bar doesn't work).

Supporting AppleScript in MATLAB is a very good idea, but MATLAB can be scripted to do just about anything already, through the 'matlab -r' shell command. From AppleScript, you could use "do shell script..." to call MATLAB and send it commands. The full MATLAB language is available; you can do anything. You can also execute AppleScript from MATLAB by escaping out to the shell, and calling osascript, '!osascript...'.

We have given AppleScript dictionary support a great deal of thought, and the main issue is that we have a lot of other ground to cover to enable MATLAB to fit in better on the Mac platform, and AppleScript falls low on the list of priorities. Also, it would take a very long time to create the kind of dictionary that would encompass everything that MATLAB can do, and develop it to a point where it is mature. In the face of an existing and comprehensive alternative (shell scripting and the MATLAB language), it's a tough sell.

I'm not trying to play down the desire or the value of AppleScript, I'm a huge fan of it. I speak from experience: I was the primary developer who added AppleScript scripting and recording support to Media 100's video editing system. It took more than a year just to get a basic dictionary working, and another two years to develop that to a point where an organization like ShowTime Networks could rely upon it for daily automation. And The MathWorks' product code base is a lot bigger.

So, I think it would take a very long time, for marginal benefit over what you can already do today, and I'm sure I can drum up plenty of agreement that we have bigger fish to fry to improve MATLAB on the Mac platform.

BTW, what solutions are available for sharing data with other applications in Matlab? I know about COM in windows, is there something similar in Linux and OsX?