Comparison: Matlab Scripts & BASIC

There are many similarities between the language used for Matlab scripts and more the more familiar BASIC programming language (and other higher level languages such as FORTRAN, Pascal or C). This document may help when becoming familiar with Matlab scripts.
* * * * * * * BASIC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MATLAB * * * * * * *
Variable Assignments
In Matlab, all variable assignments are case sensitive, so the variable Test1 is different from the variable test1. In Matlab, if an assignment is terminated with a semicolon, Matlab does not print out the result. If it is not terminated by a semicolon, it will print out the results of the assignment (In the Matlab code below, there is no semicolon after the assignment for A. This causes Matlab to print the answer). 
R = 2
P = 3.14
A = P*R^2
PRINT A
   12.56
 
R = 2;
P = 3.14;
A = P*R^2
   ans =
      12.560
Printing
PRINT "Area = ";A;" m^2" disp(['Area = ' num2str(A) ' m^2']);
Conditional & Logical Operators 
     =           equal
     <>          not equal
     <           less than
     <=          less than or equal
     >           greater than
     >=          greater than or equal
     AND         and
     OR          or
     NOT         not
     ==         equal
     ~=         not equal
     <          less than
     <=         less than or equal
     >          greater than
     >=         greater than or equal
     &          and
     |          or
     ~          not
Conditional Execution
The code below shows a simple set of Block-If statements. In some older versions of BASIC, there is no Block-If structure and so it would have to be done strictly using GOTO statements. 
if Sel = 1 then
   print "Selection is 1"
elseif Sel = 2 then
   print "Option 2 Here"
else
   print "None of the Above
endif

if Sel == 1
   disp('Selection is 1');
elseif Sel == 2
   disp('Option 2 Here');
else
   disp('None of the Above');
end
* * * * * * * BASIC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MATLAB * * * * * * *
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Electronic Copy: http://physics.gac.edu/~huber/matlab/mtlbasic.html
Revised: 27-JAN-1997 by Tom Huber, Physics Department, Gustavus Adolphus College.