Provided by: pdl_2.085-1ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       PDL::MATLAB - A guide for MATLAB users.

INTRODUCTION

       If you are a MATLAB user, this page is for you. It explains the key differences between MATLAB and PDL to
       help you get going as quickly as possible.

       This document is not a tutorial. For that, go to PDL::QuickStart. This document complements the Quick
       Start guide, as it highlights the key differences between MATLAB and PDL.

Perl

       The key differences between MATLAB and PDL are broadcasting, and Perl.

       Broadcasting means you can get a reference to just a part of your data, and operate on it in a way that
       makes sense for your application. Those operations will be reflected in the original data.

       Perl is a general purpose programming language with thousands of modules freely available on the web. PDL
       is an extension of Perl. This gives PDL programs access to more features than most numerical tools can
       dream of.  At the same time, most syntax differences between MATLAB and PDL are a result of its Perl
       foundation.

       You do not have to learn much Perl to be effective with PDL. But if you wish to learn Perl, there is
       excellent documentation available on-line (<http://perldoc.perl.org>) or through the command "perldoc
       perl".  There is also a beginner's portal (<http://perl-begin.org>).

       Perl's module repository is called CPAN (<http://www.cpan.org>) and it has a vast array of modules. Run
       "perldoc cpan" for more information.

TERMINOLOGY: NDARRAY

       MATLAB typically refers to vectors, matrices, and arrays. Perl already has arrays, and the terms "vector"
       and "matrix" typically refer to one- and two-dimensional collections of data. Having no good term to
       describe their object, PDL developers coined the term "ndarray" to give a name to their data type.

       An ndarray consists of a series of numbers organized as an N-dimensional data set. ndarrays provide
       efficient storage and fast computation of large N-dimensional matrices. They are highly optimized for
       numerical work.

       For more information, see "ndarrays vs Perl Arrays" later in this document.

COMMAND WINDOW AND IDE

       Unlike MATLAB, PDL does not come with a dedicated IDE. It does however come with an interactive shell and
       you can use a Perl IDE to develop PDL programs.

   PDL interactive shell
       To start the interactive shell, open a terminal and run "perldl" or "pdl2".  As in MATLAB, the
       interactive shell is the best way to learn the language. To exit the shell, type "exit", just like
       MATLAB.

   Writing PDL programs
       One popular IDE for Perl is called Padre (<http://padre.perlide.org>).  It is cross platform and easy to
       use.

       Whenever you write a stand-alone PDL program (i.e. outside the "perldl" or "pdl2" shell) you must start
       the program with "use PDL;".  This command imports the PDL module into Perl. Here is a sample PDL
       program:

         use PDL;             # Import main PDL module.
         use PDL::NiceSlice;  # Import additional PDL module.
         use PDL::AutoLoader; # Import additional PDL module.

         $y = pdl [2,3,4];              # Statements end in semicolon.
         $A = pdl [ [1,2,3],[4,5,6] ];  # 2-dimensional matrix.

         print $A x $y->transpose;

       Save this file as "myprogram.pl" and run it with:

         perl myprogram.pl

   New: Flexible syntax
       In current versions of PDL (version 2.4.7 or later) there is a flexible matrix syntax that can look
       extremely similar to MATLAB:

       1) Use spaces to separate elements:

         $y = pdl q[ 2 3 4 ];

       2) Use a ';' to delimit rows:

         $A = pdl q[ 1,2,3 ; 4,5,6 ];

       Basically, as long as you put a "q" in front of the opening bracket, PDL should "do what you mean". So
       you can write in a syntax that is more comfortable for you.

MODULES FOR MATLAB USERS

       There are two modules that MATLAB users will want to use:

       PDL::NiceSlice
            Gives PDL a syntax for slices (sub-matrices) that is shorter and more familiar to MATLAB users.

              % MATLAB
              b(1:5)            -->  Selects the first 5 elements from b.

              # PDL without NiceSlice
              $y->slice("0:4")  -->  Selects the first 5 elements from $y.

              # PDL with NiceSlice
              $y(0:4)           -->  Selects the first 5 elements from $y.

       PDL::AutoLoader
            Provides  a MATLAB-style autoloader for PDL. If an unknown function foo() is called, PDL looks for a
            file called "foo.pdl". If it finds one, it reads it.

BASIC FEATURES

       This section explains how PDL's syntax differs from MATLAB. Most MATLAB users will want to start here.

   General "gotchas"
       Indices
            In PDL, indices start at '0' (like C and Java), not 1 (like MATLAB or FORTRAN).  For example, if  $y
            is an array with 5 elements, the elements would be numbered from 0 to 4. This is different, but less
            difficult as soon as you need to do calculations based on offsets.

       Displaying an object
            MATLAB  normally  displays  object  contents  automatically.  In  the PDL shells you display objects
            explicitly with the "print" command or the shortcut "p":

            MATLAB:

             >> a = 12
             a =  12
             >> b = 23;       % Suppress output.
             >>

            PDL Shell (perldl or pdl2):

             pdl> $x = 12    # No output.
             pdl> print $x   # Print object.
             12
             pdl> p $x       # "p" is a shorthand for "print" in the shell.
             12
             pdl>

            In pdl2 there is the "do_print" command that will toggle the "quiet" mode, which defaults to on.  In
            "print" mode, expressions you enter on the command line will have their values printed.

   Creating ndarrays
       Variables in PDL
            Variables always start with the '$' sign.

             MATLAB:    value  = 42
             PerlDL:    $value = 42

       Basic syntax
            Use the "pdl" constructor to create a new ndarray.

             MATLAB:    v  = [1,2,3,4]
             PerlDL:    $v = pdl [1,2,3,4]

             MATLAB:    A  =      [ 1,2,3  ;  3,4,5 ]
             PerlDL:    $A = pdl [ [1,2,3] , [3,4,5] ]

       Simple matrices
                                  MATLAB       PDL
                                  ------       ------
              Matrix of ones      ones(5)      ones 5,5
              Matrix of zeros     zeros(5)     zeros 5,5
              Random matrix       rand(5)      random 5,5
              Linear vector       1:5          sequence 5

            Notice  that  in PDL the parenthesis in a function call are often optional.  It is important to keep
            an eye out for possible ambiguities. For example:

              pdl> p zeros 2, 2 + 2

            Should this be interpreted as "zeros(2,2) + 2" or as "zeros 2, (2+2)"?  Both are valid statements:

              pdl> p zeros(2,2) + 2
              [
               [2 2]
               [2 2]
              ]
              pdl> p zeros 2, (2+2)
              [
               [0 0]
               [0 0]
               [0 0]
               [0 0]
              ]

            Rather than trying to memorize Perl's order of precedence, it is best to  use  parentheses  to  make
            your  code  unambiguous.  Remember you may need to come back to your code, and parentheses make your
            own (as well as others') comprehension easier.

       Linearly spaced sequences
              MATLAB:   >> linspace(2,10,5)
                        ans = 2 4 6 8 10

              PerlDL:   pdl> p zeroes(5)->xlinvals(2,10)
                        [2 4 6 8 10]

            Explanation: Start with a 1-dimensional ndarray of 5 elements and give it equally spaced values from
            2 to 10.

            MATLAB has a single function call for this. On the other hand, PDL's method is more flexible:

              pdl> p zeros(5,5)->xlinvals(2,10)
              [
               [ 2  4  6  8 10]
               [ 2  4  6  8 10]
               [ 2  4  6  8 10]
               [ 2  4  6  8 10]
               [ 2  4  6  8 10]
              ]
              pdl> p zeros(5,5)->ylinvals(2,10)
              [
               [ 2  2  2  2  2]
               [ 4  4  4  4  4]
               [ 6  6  6  6  6]
               [ 8  8  8  8  8]
               [10 10 10 10 10]
              ]
              pdl> p zeros(3,3,3)->zlinvals(2,6)
              [
               [
                [2 2 2]
                [2 2 2]
                [2 2 2]
               ]
               [
                [4 4 4]
                [4 4 4]
                [4 4 4]
               ]
               [
                [6 6 6]
                [6 6 6]
                [6 6 6]
               ]
              ]

       Slicing and indices
            Extracting a subset from a collection of data is known as slicing.  PDL and MATLAB  have  a  similar
            syntax for slicing, but there are two important differences:

            1) PDL indices start at 0, as in C and Java. MATLAB starts indices at 1.

            2) In MATLAB you think "rows and columns". In PDL, think "x and y".

              MATLAB                         PerlDL
              ------                         ------
              >> A                           pdl> p $A
              A =                            [
                   1   2   3                  [1 2 3]
                   4   5   6                  [4 5 6]
                   7   8   9                  [7 8 9]
                                             ]
              -------------------------------------------------------
              (row = 2, col = 1)             (x = 0, y = 1)
              >> A(2,1)                      pdl> p $A(0,1)
              ans =                          [
                     4                        [4]
                                             ]
              -------------------------------------------------------
              (row = 2 to 3, col = 1 to 2)   (x = 0 to 1, y = 1 to 2)
              >> A(2:3,1:2)                  pdl> p $A(0:1,1:2)
              ans =                          [
                     4   5                    [4 5]
                     7   8                    [7 8]
                                             ]

            Warning
                 When  you  write  a  stand-alone  PDL program, if you want the "nice slice" syntax, you have to
                 include the PDL::NiceSlice module. See the previous section "MODULES FOR MATLAB USERS" for more
                 information.

                   use PDL;             # Import main PDL module.
                   use PDL::NiceSlice;  # Nice syntax for slicing.
                   use PDL::AutoLoader; # MATLAB-like autoloader.

                   $A = random 4,4;
                   print $A(0,1);

   Matrix Operations
       Matrix multiplication
                  MATLAB:    A * B
                  PerlDL:    $A x $B

       Element-wise multiplication
                  MATLAB:    A .* B
                  PerlDL:    $A * $B

       Transpose
                  MATLAB:    A'
                  PerlDL:    $A->transpose

   Functions that aggregate data
       Some functions (like "sum", "max" and "min") aggregate data for an N-dimensional  data  set.  This  is  a
       place where MATLAB and PDL take a different approach:

       In MATLAB, these functions all work along one dimension.
                   >> A = [ 1,5,4  ;  4,2,1 ]
                   A = 1  5  4
                       4  2  1
                   >> max(A)
                   ans = 4  5  4
                   >> max(A')
                   ans = 5  4

                 If  you  want  the maximum for the entire data set, you can use the special A(:) notation which
                 basically turns the entire data set into a single 1-dimensional vector.

                   >> max(A(:))
                   ans =  5
                   >> A = ones(2,2,2,2)
                   >> max(A(:))
                   ans = 1

       PDL offers two functions for each feature.
                   sum   vs   sumover
                   avg   vs   average
                   max   vs   maximum
                   min   vs   minimum

                 The long name works over a dimension, while the short name works over the entire ndarray.

                   pdl> p $A = pdl [ [1,5,4] , [4,2,1] ]
                   [
                    [1 5 4]
                    [4 2 1]
                   ]
                   pdl> p $A->maximum
                   [5 4]
                   pdl> p $A->transpose->maximum
                   [4 5 4]
                   pdl> p $A->max
                   5
                   pdl> p ones(2,2,2)->max
                   1
                   pdl> p ones(2,2,2,2)->max
                   1

       Note Notice that PDL aggregates horizontally while MATLAB aggregates vertically. In other words:

              MATLAB              PerlDL
              max(A)       ==     $A->transpose->maximum
              max(A')      ==     $A->maximum

            TIP: In MATLAB you think "rows and columns". In PDL, think "x and y".

   Higher dimensional data sets
       A related issue is how MATLAB and PDL understand data sets of higher dimension. MATLAB was  designed  for
       1D vectors and 2D matrices. Higher dimensional objects ("N-D arrays") were added on top. In contrast, PDL
       was  designed  for  N-dimensional  ndarrays  from the start. This leads to a few surprises in MATLAB that
       don't occur in PDL:

       MATLAB sees a vector as a 2D matrix.
              MATLAB                       PerlDL
              ------                       ------
              >> vector = [1,2,3,4];       pdl> $vector = pdl [1,2,3,4]
              >> size(vector)              pdl> p $vector->dims
              ans = 1 4                    4

            MATLAB sees "[1,2,3,4]" as a 2D matrix (1x4 matrix). PDL sees it as a 1D vector: A single  dimension
            of size 4.

       But MATLAB ignores the last dimension of a 4x1x1 matrix.
              MATLAB                       PerlDL
              ------                       ------
              >> A = ones(4,1,1);          pdl> $A = ones 4,1,1
              >> size(A)                   pdl> p $A->dims
              ans = 4 1                    4 1 1

       And MATLAB treats a 4x1x1 matrix differently from a 1x1x4 matrix.
              MATLAB                       PerlDL
              ------                       ------
              >> A = ones(1,1,4);          pdl> $A = ones 1,1,4
              >> size(A)                   pdl> p $A->dims
              ans = 1 1 4                  1 1 4

       MATLAB has no direct syntax for N-D arrays.
              pdl> $A = pdl [ [[1,2,3],[4,5,6]], [[2,3,4],[5,6,7]] ]
              pdl> p $A->dims
              3 2 2

       Feature support.
            In  MATLAB, several features such as sparse matrix support are not available for N-D arrays. In PDL,
            just about any feature supported by 1D and  2D  ndarrays,  is  equally  supported  by  N-dimensional
            ndarrays.  There is usually no distinction.

   Loop Structures
       Perl has many loop structures, but we will only show the one that is most familiar to MATLAB users:

         MATLAB              PerlDL
         ------              ------
         for i = 1:10        for $i (1..10) {
             disp(i)             print $i
         endfor              }

       Note Never  use  for-loops  for  numerical work. Perl's for-loops are faster than MATLAB's, but they both
            pale against a "vectorized" operation.  PDL  has  many  tools  that  facilitate  writing  vectorized
            programs.   These  are  beyond  the  scope  of  this  guide.  To  learn  more,  see:  PDL::Indexing,
            PDL::Broadcasting, and PDL::PP.

            Likewise, never use 1..10 for numerical work, even outside a for-loop.  1..10 is a Perl array.  Perl
            arrays  are  designed  for flexibility, not speed. Use ndarrays instead. To learn more, see the next
            section.

   ndarrays vs Perl Arrays
       It is important to note the difference between an ndarray and a Perl array. Perl  has  a  general-purpose
       array object that can hold any type of element:

         @perl_array = 1..10;
         @perl_array = ( 12, "Hello" );
         @perl_array = ( 1, 2, 3, \@another_perl_array, sequence(5) );

       Perl  arrays  allow  you to create powerful data structures (see Data structures below), but they are not
       designed for numerical work.  For that, use ndarrays:

         $pdl = pdl [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ];
         $pdl = sequence 10_000_000;
         $pdl = ones 600, 600;

       For example:

         $points =  pdl  1..10_000_000    # 4.7 seconds
         $points = sequence 10_000_000    # milliseconds

       TIP: You can use underscores in numbers ("10_000_000" reads better than 10000000).

   Conditionals
       Perl has many conditionals, but we will only show the one that is most familiar to MATLAB users:

         MATLAB                          PerlDL
         ------                          ------
         if value > MAX                  if ($value > $MAX) {
             disp("Too large")               print "Too large\n";
         elseif value < MIN              } elsif ($value < $MIN) {
             disp("Too small")               print "Too small\n";
         else                            } else {
             disp("Perfect!")                print "Perfect!\n";
         end                             }

       Note Here is a "gotcha":

              MATLAB:  elseif
              PerlDL:  elsif

            If your conditional gives a syntax error, check that you wrote your "elsif"'s correctly.

   TIMTOWDI (There Is More Than One Way To Do It)
       One of the most interesting differences between PDL and other tools is the  expressiveness  of  the  Perl
       language. TIMTOWDI, or "There Is More Than One Way To Do It", is Perl's motto.

       Perl  was  written by a linguist, and one of its defining properties is that statements can be formulated
       in different ways to give the language a more natural feel. For example, you are unlikely  to  say  to  a
       friend:

        "While I am not finished, I will keep working."

       Human language is more flexible than that. Instead, you are more likely to say:

        "I will keep working until I am finished."

       Owing  to  its linguistic roots, Perl is the only programming language with this sort of flexibility. For
       example, Perl has traditional while-loops and if-statements:

         while ( ! finished() ) {
             keep_working();
         }

         if ( ! wife_angry() ) {
             kiss_wife();
         }

       But it also offers the alternative until and unless statements:

         until ( finished() ) {
             keep_working();
         }

         unless ( wife_angry() ) {
             kiss_wife();
         }

       And Perl allows you to write loops and conditionals in "postfix" form:

         keep_working() until finished();

         kiss_wife() unless wife_angry();

       In this way, Perl often allows you to write more natural, easy to understand code  than  is  possible  in
       more restrictive programming languages.

   Functions
       PDL's syntax for declaring functions differs significantly from MATLAB's.

         MATLAB                          PerlDL
         ------                          ------
         function retval = foo(x,y)      sub foo {
             retval = x.**2 + x.*y           my ($x, $y) = @_;
         endfunction                         return $x**2 + $x*$y;
                                         }

       Don't be intimidated by all the new syntax. Here is a quick run through a function declaration in PDL:

       1) "sub" stands for "subroutine".

       2)  "my"  declares  variables to be local to the function. This helps you not accidentally use undeclared
       variables, which is enforced if you "use strict". See strict for more.

       3) "@_" is a special Perl array that holds all the function parameters.  This might seem like  a  strange
       way  to  do functions, but it allows you to make functions that take a variable number of parameters. For
       example, the following function takes any number of parameters and adds them together:

         sub mysum {
             my ($i, $total) = (0, 0);
             for $i (@_) {
                 $total += $i;
             }
             return $total;
         }

       In more recent versions of Perl, you can "use signatures" for a different syntax for  declaring  function
       parameters. See signatures for more.

       4) You can assign values to several variables at once using the syntax:

         ($x, $y, $z) = (1, 2, 3);

       So, in the previous examples:

         # This declares two local variables and initializes them to 0.
         my ($i, $total) = (0, 0);

         # This takes the first two elements of @_ and puts them in $x and $y.
         my ($x, $y) = @_;

       5) The "return" statement gives the return value of the function, if any.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

   ASCII File IO
       To  read data files containing whitespace separated columns of numbers (as would be read using the MATLAB
       load command) one uses the PDL rcols in PDL::IO::Misc.  For a general  review  of  the  IO  functionality
       available  in  PDL, see the documentation for PDL::IO, e.g., "help PDL::IO" in the pdl2 shell or " pdldoc
       PDL::IO " from the shell command line.

   Data structures
       To create complex data structures, MATLAB uses "cell arrays" and "structure arrays".  Perl's  arrays  and
       hashes  offer  similar  functionality  but  are  more powerful and flexible. This section is only a quick
       overview   of   what   Perl   has   to   offer.   To   learn   more   about   this,    please    go    to
       <http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html> or run the command "perldoc perldata".

       Arrays
            Perl  arrays  are similar to MATLAB's cell arrays, but more flexible. For example, in MATLAB, a cell
            array is still fundamentally a matrix. It is made of rows, and rows must have the same length.

              MATLAB
              ------
              array = {1, 12, 'hello'; rand(3, 2), ones(3), 'junk'}
              => OK
              array = {1, 12, 'hello'; rand(3, 2), ones(3) }
              => ERROR

            A Perl array is a general purpose, sequential data structure. It can contain any data type.

              PerlDL
              ------
              @array = ( [1, 12, 'hello'] , [ random(3,2), ones(3,3), 'junk' ] )
              => OK
              @array = ( [1, 12, 'hello'] , [ random(3,2), ones(3,3) ] )
              => OK
              @array = ( 5 , {'name' => 'Mike'} , [1, 12, 'hello'] )
              => OK

            Notice that Perl array's start with the "@" prefix instead of the "$" used by ndarrays.

            To learn about Perl arrays, please go to <http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html> or run the  command
            "perldoc perldata".

       Hashes
            Perl hashes are similar to MATLAB's structure arrays:

              MATLAB
              ------
              >> drink = struct('type', 'coke', 'size', 'large', 'myarray', {1,2,3})
              >> drink.type = 'sprite'
              >> drink.price = 12          % Add new field to structure array.

              PerlDL
              ------
              pdl> %drink = ( type => 'coke' , size => 'large', myndarray => ones(3,3,3) )
              pdl> $drink{type} = 'sprite'
              pdl> $drink{price} = 12   # Add new field to hash.

            Notice  that  Perl  hashes  start  with the "%" prefix instead of the "@" for arrays and "$" used by
            ndarrays.

            To learn about Perl hashes, please go to <http://perldoc.perl.org/perldata.html> or run the  command
            "perldoc perldata".

   Performance
       PDL  has powerful performance features, some of which are not normally available in numerical computation
       tools. The following pages will guide you through these features:

       PDL::Indexing
            Level: Beginner

            This beginner tutorial covers the standard  "vectorization"  feature  that  you  already  know  from
            MATLAB. Use this page to learn how to avoid for-loops to make your program more efficient.

       PDL::Broadcasting
            Level: Intermediate

            PDL's  "vectorization"  feature  goes  beyond  what most numerical software can do. In this tutorial
            you'll learn how to "broadcast" over higher dimensions,  allowing  you  to  vectorize  your  program
            further than is possible in MATLAB.

       Benchmarks
            Level: Intermediate

            Perl  comes  with  an  easy  to  use benchmarks module to help you find how long it takes to execute
            different parts of your code. It is a great tool to help you focus your  optimization  efforts.  You
            can  read about it online (<http://perldoc.perl.org/Benchmark.html>) or through the command "perldoc
            Benchmark".

       PDL::PP
            Level: Advanced

            PDL's Pre-Processor is one of PDL's most powerful features.  You  write  a  function  definition  in
            special  markup  and  the pre-processor generates real C code which can be compiled. With PDL:PP you
            get the full speed of native C code without having to  deal  with  the  full  complexity  of  the  C
            language.

   Plotting
       PDL has full-featured plotting abilities. Unlike MATLAB, PDL relies more on third-party libraries (pgplot
       and  PLplot)  for its 2D plotting features.  Its 3D plotting and graphics uses OpenGL for performance and
       portability.  PDL has three main plotting modules:

       PDL::Graphics::PGPLOT
            Best for: Plotting 2D functions and data sets.

            This is an interface to the venerable PGPLOT library. PGPLOT has been widely used  in  the  academic
            and  scientific  communities for many years. In part because of its age, PGPLOT has some limitations
            compared to newer packages such as PLplot (e.g. no RGB graphics).  But it  has  many  features  that
            still make it popular in the scientific community.

       PDL::Graphics::PLplot
            Best for: Plotting 2D functions as well as 2D and 3D data sets.

            This  is  an  interface  to the PLplot plotting library. PLplot is a modern, open source library for
            making scientific plots.  It supports plots of both 2D and 3D data sets. PLplot  is  best  supported
            for  unix/linux/macosx  platforms.  It  has  an  active  developers  community and support for win32
            platforms is improving.

       PDL::Graphics::TriD
            Best for: Plotting 3D functions.

            The native PDL 3D graphics library using OpenGL as a backend for 3D plots  and  data  visualization.
            With OpenGL, it is easy to manipulate the resulting 3D objects with the mouse in real time.

   Writing GUIs
       Through  Perl,  PDL  has  access  to  all the major toolkits for creating a cross platform graphical user
       interface. One popular option is wxPerl (<http://wxperl.sourceforge.net>). These are  the  Perl  bindings
       for wxWidgets, a powerful GUI toolkit for writing cross-platform applications.

       wxWidgets is designed to make your application look and feel like a native application in every platform.
       For example, the Perl IDE Padre is written with wxPerl.

   Simulink
       Simulink is a graphical dynamical system modeler and simulator. It can be purchased separately as an add-
       on  to  MATLAB.   PDL  and Perl do not have a direct equivalent to MATLAB's Simulink.  If this feature is
       important to you, then take a look at Scilab:

       <http://www.scilab.org>

       Scilab is another numerical analysis software. Like PDL, it is free and  open  source.  It  doesn't  have
       PDL's  unique  features,  but it is very similar to MATLAB. Scilab comes with Xcos (previously Scicos), a
       graphical system modeler and simulator similar to Simulink.

COMPARISON: REPEATED COPY OF MATRIX

       In MATLAB, the "repmat" function works like so:

         > A = reshape(0:5, 3, 2)' # similar to PDL::sequence(3, 2)
         ans =
            0   1   2
            3   4   5
         > repmat(A, 2, 3) # double rows, triple columns
         ans =
            0   1   2   0   1   2   0   1   2
            3   4   5   3   4   5   3   4   5
            0   1   2   0   1   2   0   1   2
            3   4   5   3   4   5   3   4   5

       This works (at least in Octave) at least up to 3 dimensions.

       The PDL analog:

         sub repmat {
           my $f=shift;
           my @n=@_; #number of repetitions along dimension
           my $sl = join ',', map ":,*$_", @n; # insert right-size dummy after each real
           my $r = $f->slice($sl); #result
           $r = $r->clump($_, $_+1) for 0..$#n;
           $r;
         }
         > p $x = sequence(3,2)
         [
          [0 1 2]
          [3 4 5]
         ]
         > p repmat($x, 3, 2) # triple columns, double rows
         [
          [0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2]
          [3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 5]
          [0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2]
          [3 4 5 3 4 5 3 4 5]
         ]

COMPARISON: FLOYD-WARSHALL ALGORITHM

       In graph theory <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_theory>, an apparently-simple but difficult  problem
       is  the "shortest path" problem, of finding the shortest path between any two nodes. A famous solution to
       this, albeit expensive (it is O(V^3)  where  "V"  is  the  number  of  vertices)  is  the  Floyd-Warshall
       algorithm, which iterates through all the possible paths.

       Both  the  MATLAB  solution  and  the  PDL  solution  use  vectorisation,  so  hopefully this is a useful
       comparison.   The   MATLAB   version   started   with   the    code    in    code    by    Giorgos    Dim
       <https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/67503-floyd-warshall-vectorized>,  but  modified  as
       that code produces an incorrect path matrix.

       Sample data (reflected on both the Wikipedia page, and the Rosetta Code website) for  the  weighted-edges
       matrix is, in PDL format:

         my $we = pdl q[
          [Inf Inf  -2 Inf]
          [  4 Inf   3 Inf]
          [Inf Inf Inf   2]
          [Inf  -1 Inf Inf]
         ];

       and in MATLAB format:

         A = [0 Inf -2 Inf; 4 0 3 Inf; Inf Inf 0 2; Inf -1 Inf 0]

   PDL version
       To solve for only distances without capturing the shortest actual paths:

         $we .= $we->hclip($we->mslice('X', $_) + $we->mslice($_, 'X'))
           for 0..($we->dim(0)-1);

       This  loops over each possible intermediate point ("k" in the other literature), setting it to $_ (a Perl
       idiom). It uses "hclip" in  PDL::Primitive  for  vectorised  calculation  of  the  distance  between  the
       intermediate  point's  predecessors  and  successors.  Those  are  the  two  components  of  the addition
       expression, using "slices" alluded to above. The ".=" is the PDL syntax for updating an ndarray.

       To capture the shortest-path "next vertex" matrix as well:

         use PDL::Lite;
         my $d = $we->copy->inplace;
         $d->diagonal(0, 1) .= 0;
         my $suc = $we->copy->inplace;
         my $adjacent_coords = PDL::whichND($we->isfinite);
         $suc->indexND($adjacent_coords) .= $adjacent_coords->slice(0)->flat;
         $suc->diagonal(0, 1) .= PDL::Basic::sequence($d->dim(0));
         for (my $k = $d->dim(0)-1; $k >= 0; $k--) {
           my $d_copy = $d->copy;
           $d .= $d->hclip($d->mslice('X', $k) + $d->mslice($k, 'X'));
           my $coords = PDL::whichND($d < $d_copy);
           my $from_coords = $coords->copy->inplace;
           $from_coords->slice(0) .= $k;
           $suc->indexND($coords) .= $suc->indexND($from_coords);
         }

       The "diagonal" and "slice" expressions show how to update data via a query syntax.

   MATLAB version
       Path-lengths only:

         function D = FloydWarshall(D)
           for k = 1:length(D)
             D = min(D,D(:,k) + D(k,:));
           end
         end

       The path vertices-capturing as well:

         function [D,P] = FloydWarshall(D)
           P = D;
           n = length(D);
           coords = find(isfinite(P));
           P(coords) = floor((coords-1) / n)+1; % the col in 1-based
           for v = 1:n; P(v, v) = v; end
           for k = 1:n
             prevD = D;
             D = min(D,D(:,k) + D(k,:));
             coords = find(D<prevD);
             from_coords = n * (k-1) + mod(coords-1, n) + 1; % change col to k in 1-based
             P(coords) = P(from_coords);
           end
         end

       By comparison, the lack of "broadcasting" means that to update the diagonal requires a for-loop, which in
       the sphere of vectorised calculations is a bad thing. The calculations of coordinates are complicated  by
       the 1-based counting.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  2010 Daniel Carrera (dcarrera@gmail.com). You can distribute and/or modify this document under
       the same terms as the current Perl license.

       See: <http://dev.perl.org/licenses/>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       I'd like to thank David Mertens, Chris Marshall and Sigrid  Carrera  for  their  immense  help  reviewing
       earlier  drafts of this guide. Without their hours of work, this document would not be remotely as useful
       to MATLAB users as it is today.

perl v5.38.2                                       2024-04-10                                         MATLAB(1p)