Is there a way to use 2021a editor in 2022a release

For many good reasons I prefer 2021 editor to 2022.

(The reasons are too many to list and are rehashed in other questions. I understand that the new editor is a work in progress and will improve in due course.)

I have both versions installed (2021a and 2022a). Can I tell 2022a to use 2021a's editor? E.g. by changing something in ...\MATLAB\R2022a\toolbox\matlab\codetools\edit.m ?

Thank you.

[Bruno Luong]

Not a chance you could do it, IMO.

In the same type of complain, I would like to use appdesigner code view in the same window with the regular mfile editor, since debugging while I have to switch window is not convenient.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

I agree with Bruno. I don't think you can do it. However you can specify another editor, like SlickEdit, in the MATLAB Preferences, but I haven't tried it. I'm doubtful you'll get the debugging tools in the third party editor so you might have to make your changes in your editor, then switch back to MATLAB which will automatically reload the changed file, and then you can start your running and debugging.

Of course the best option would be if MATLAB just let you use a programmers editor key mapping rather than the lame one built into the operating system, like Windows CUA, which might be good for word processing but is terribly inefficient for line-oriented programming. For example in a programmer's editor you can simply type + on the numeric keypad to copy the entire line (not matter where you are in the line or what may or may not be highlighted on the line) into the clipboard. Now with the clunky editor we got you have to put the cursor at some precise location to the left of the line of code (not easy) and then type control-C. Or else do HomeKey, shift-down-arrow, control-c. Very clunky.

I also agree with Bruno that I don't like that the IDEs for MATLAB and App Designer are separate. Maybe it's OK with someone running two monitors but for those of us running a single monitor, thrashing between windows is a pain and the main reason I have not yet switched to App Designer. In App Designer if you want to see for workspace variables, folder panel, or command window, you have to switch over to MATLAB and that's a pain if you're on one monitor. I wish the code, workspace panel, command window panel, and current folder panel could all be on the same IDE, but unfortunately they're not with App Designer.

[Dmitry Kaplan]

I HAVE tried other editors (e.g. Notepad++) as a matlab editor and yes they work as a primitive editor, not a debugger. I would like to hear someone from mathworks with a definitive answer to my question. I have a hard time dealing with an editor that I can outtype -- haven't had to deal with that since my WordStar days :-)

[Image Analyst]

I do not have that problem on my computer. The letters appear as fast as I can type them. What is your CPU utilization when that happens?

[Dmitry Kaplan]

I should have said "out-edit". Like I said, in the OP, it is not my intention to turn this into a discussion of WHY I prefer the 2021 editor. It feels snappier. If I were a guessing man, I would say, e.g., that in 2021 the syntax checker/highlighter ran in a parallel thread or on a lower priority, I liked the section highlighting better, I liked the behavior of the search/replace better. The changes are certainly nothing that I can't get used to -- I've been using matlab since the vax 11/780 days -- and I know it will get better. I am just surprised that with its admirable near-zealous backward-compatibility philosophy that Matlab has, the new editor is missing the "behave just like the old editor" mode with the new features being optional.

Thank you for the utilization suggestion. I have a threadripper with 256G ram, so it's unlikely to be the cause, but I will certainly watch out for it. It also seems that the lack-of-snappiness starts after a few hours of use, so it may be a more complex issue than it first appears.

In my case, the workaround is simple -- I continue using the 2021a.

[Michelle Hirsch]

Just a quick note to others reading this thread that one of our Editor development managers reached out to Dmitry to better understand and try to address the issues. We've made improvements in memory handling in 22a with more coming in 22b (prerelease available now) that should help with Dmitry's issue that the editor seemed to get sluggish as it was open a long time. We're adding control over when the pop-up coding assistants pop up (21b update 4, 22a update 3 - both targeted for later this month, 22b prerelease - out now), which should also help.

[Bruno Luong]

R2022a Update 3 is out since few weeks now.

Answer 2

[Shivam Lahoti]

According to some matlab answers you might not be able to use the editor of 2021a in your 2022a release. But You can maintain different version of matlab, have alook into this matlab answers,

https://in.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/82475-converting-mathcad-to-matlab

[Dmitry Kaplan]

I am not sure that the matlab answer you linked is pertinent to my situation, but yes, I just keep two versions of matlab around for this reason.