Programming and Data Types

Converter Methods

A converter method is a class method that has the same name as another class, such as char or double. Converter methods accept an object of one class as input and return an object of another class. Converters enable you to:

• Use methods defined for another class
• Ensure that expressions involving objects of mixed class types execute properly

A converter function call is of the form

• b = class_name(a)
  

where a is an object of a class other than class_name. In this case, MATLAB looks for a method called class_name in the class directory for object a. If the input object is already of type class_name, then MATLAB calls the constructor, which just returns the input argument.

Examples of Converter Methods

See the following sections for examples of converter methods:

• The Polynom to Double Converter
• The Polynom to Char Converter

Indexing an Object with Another Object

Overloading Operators and Functions