v1.16.0

1.16.0 - (2025-12-27)

Added

• Windows ARM64 support: build and installer available.
• onCleanup: Execute code during function shutdown.
• #188 audiorecorder: Record audio.
• getaudiodata: Retrieve recorded audio as a numeric array.
• isrecording: Check if audio recording is in progress.
• record: Record audio to an audiorecorder object.
• recordblocking: Record audio and block until completion.
• getplayer: Create an associated audioplayer object.
• TimerFcn, StartFcn, StopFcn callbacks for audioplayer and audiorecorder.
• rms: Compute root mean square of array elements.
• daspect: Set data unit length along each axis.
• pbaspect: Set relative axis lengths.

Changed

• Advanced terminal: linenoise replaced by replxx for improved line editing.
• Autocomplete: Upgraded functionality in advanced command-line terminal.
• Axis handling: Enhanced axis limit normalization and improved DataAspectRatio.

Fixed

• #1494: In advanced CLI mode, pasting long lines no longer causes character duplication.
• #1493: doc function works again on Nelson Cloud (regression in 1.15.0).
• #1492: Temporary message removed when generating toolbox help.
• BLAS/OpenBLAS detection improved in example run([modulepath('dynamic_link'), '/examples/call_fortran.m']) on some Linux systems.
• imresize: Now supports scalar string arrays as input arguments.
• #1505: Updated CMake to 4.2 and ICU to 78.1 on Windows

v1.15.0

1.15.0 - (2025-11-21)

Starting with v1.15, Nelson for Windows is officially signed with a Certum-issued code-signing certificate.
This is a major security milestone, ensuring the authenticity and integrity of Nelson’s Windows releases.

Nelson remains a non-profit, community-driven project.
The certificate represents a significant cost for a volunteer effort - any donation to help cover it is deeply appreciated.

Added

• Pair Name/Value argument syntax for plotting (e.g. plot(x, y, '--rs', LineWidth=2, MarkerEdgeColor='k')).
• Support for ignored outputs in assignments (e.g. [~, V, ~] = svd(A)).
• New random engines: simdTwister, combRecursive, philox, threefry.
• randi: uniform random integers.
• sprand, sprandn: sparse random matrices (uniform and normal).
• mink, maxk: k smallest / largest elements.
• subspace: angle/distance between column spaces.
• std: standard deviation.
• findpeaks: local maxima detection.
• downsample: integer-factor resampling.
• imresize: image resizing (scale or target size).
• clabel: contour labeling.
• Extended colormap placement locations: north, south, east, west and their outside variants.
• Variable Editor: redesigned UI with improved performance, structured/table/array support and copy-paste compatibility with common spreadsheet apps.
• Continuation prompt: context-aware interactive prompts.
• missing: create missing values for arrays and tables.
• renameStructField: rename structure fields.
• convertStringToCharArgs: convert string/cell-of-strings to char-args.
• jsondecode(..., '-file'): decode JSON directly from a file.
• tdigest: t-digest quantile estimation.
• pascal and gallery helper matrices.
• crc32 builtin: compute CRC32 of file/string.
• markdown: output mode option (secure | advanced).
• fwrite: also return written byte count as a second output.
• loadenv: load environment variables from .env or text files.
• help: function help available in Command Window.
• consolebox: show/hide Windows terminal for Nelson session.
• CI / platform additions: macOS Tahoe 26, Fedora 43, Python 3.14, Visual Studio 2026 support.

Changed

• svd: optimized for multithreading and large matrices.
• Help framework: reworked for performance and maintainability (multithreaded builds, improved search, unified stylesheet, XSLT, LaTeX formula support, French translations, removed Qt help dependency, secure links).
• jsondecode: integrated simdjson for faster parsing.
• fileread: improved performance for large files.
• fwrite: returns character count for character data.
• i18nExtractor, browser variable and other internals: refactored for speed and reliability.
• Third-party library updates on Windows (HDF5, zlib, matio) and Qt upgraded to 6.10.0 (Win x64).
• Benchmarks and xmldocchecker: updated/improved.
• External packages: installing a package switches to local embedded help; packages must be rebuilt for the new help format.
• Removed several Boost dependencies to simplify builds.
• Private functions no longer appear in autocompletion.
• GitHub CI: MacOS Ventura replaced by MacOS 15 Intel.
• Markdown renderer switched to cmark.
• #1458 Optional support for Eigen 5.0.0 when detected.
• #1465 Test file renaming to bug_github_issue_XXX.

Fixed

• ans variable: created only for expressions.
• jsondecode: fixed parsing of arrays that contain empty arrays.
• fwrite: fixed behavior when precision is unspecified.
• eye: handled no-argument call correctly.
• #2 Sparse type insertion & extraction extended and corrected.
• Julia engine: compatibility with Julia 1.12.0

v1.14.0

1.14.0 - (2025-05-30)

Added

• New functions:
  • imrotate: Rotate an image.
  • scatter3: 3D scatter plot.
  • colormaplist: List available colormaps.
  • arrayfun: Apply a function to each element of an array.
  • nelsonappid: Return the Nelson application ID.
• New colormaps:
  • nebula, flag, prism.
• New properties:
  • WindowState for Figure objects.
  • Units for UIControl objects.
  • DefaultFigureAlphamap, DefaultFigureColormap as root properties.
• Support for nix develop, providing a reproducible Bash shell preconfigured with Nelson’s build environment.
  See BUILDING.md for details.
• A justfile to streamline and standardize the build process across platforms.
• Support for:
  • Fedora 42.
  • Flatpak package distribution.

Changed

• scatter improvements:
  • Now returns a scatter graphic object (instead of a line graphic object).
  • Improved rendering precision for scatter symbols (pixel-perfect accuracy).
  • Supports alpha channel (transparency).
• scatter3 now supports alpha channel.
• spy now uses scatter instead of plot for better accuracy.
• Colormap handling updated to use the new DefaultFigureColormap root property.
• Improved error message when parsing invalid anonymous functions.
• Boost:
  • Now supports Boost 1.88 (#1378).
  • Minimum required version set to 1.71.
• Updated dependencies and platform support:
  • Qt 6.9.0 on Windows x64.
  • JSON for Modern C++ updated to v3.12.0.
  • Mozilla CA certificates updated (Tue May 20 03:12:02 2025 GMT).

Fixed

• #1413: axes function did not properly manage figure objects.

Technical Improvements

• Application ID changed to io.github.nelson_lang.Nelson.
• GitHub CI:
  • Now uses Windows 2025 for Windows builds.
  • Major workflow rework for improved reliability and maintainability.
• Build system:
  • Updated to latest Prettier version.
  • Added use of shared library suffix via a CMake macro.
  • Included CPU target name in Linux packages.
  • Minimized dependencies on SLICOT.

v1.13.0

1.13.0 - (2025-03-29)

This release introduces performance improvements and new graphical capabilities while deprecating support for 32-bit Windows versions.

Changed

• Windows x64 Compatibility: Now requires the AVX2 instruction set.

• Windows 32-bit Support: Official distribution of 32-bit Windows binary versions has been discontinued.

• macOS Optimization: Builds for macOS with M-series chips now leverage native optimizations for improved performance.

• Plot Performance: Optimized plot and plot3 functions for increased speed. Example:

  tic(); plot(rand(300,300), rand(300,300)); toc();

• Dependencies Updated:

  • Upgraded fmtlib to version 11.1.3.
  • Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) updated to 2025.0.1 on Windows.

• Internal Enhancements:

  • OpenMP multithreading macros have been reworked for better efficiency.

• SLICOT module incorporates SLICOT library 5.9, which is distributed under the BSD-3-Clause license.

  • SLICOT module available on all platforms by default.

• python 3.13.2 embedded on Windows

Added

• Double Buffering for Plots:

  • Implemented double buffering to enhance the smoothness and responsiveness of graphical plots.
  • Significantly reduces flickering during graphical updates.

• New Graphics Functions:

  • getframe: Captures an axes or figure as a movie frame.
  • movie: Plays recorded movie frames.
  • im2frame: Converts an image to a movie frame.
  • frame2im: Returns image data associated with a movie frame.
  • DevicePixelRatio: New figure property to handle display scaling.

• Graphics IO module:

  • imwrite: create gif animations.
  • imwrite, imread: pcx, tiff file formats managed.
  • imformats: Manage image file format registry.

• New Example:

  • Added an example for connecting ollama with Nelson:

    edit([modulepath('webtools'), '/examples/ollama/readme.md'])

• CMake Enhancement:

  • Introduced ENABLE_AVX2 CMake option for systems that support AVX2.
  • CMake dependencies reworked.

Fixed

• MacOs: Default terminal did not use monospaced font.

• Some warnings detected with PVS-studio

v1.12.0

1.12.0 (2025-02-16)

Added

• Julia interface (part 1):

  • jlenv: Change default environment of Julia interpreter.
  • jlrun: Run Julia statements from Nelson.
  • jlrunfile: Run Julia file from Nelson.
  • Major types conversions are available.
  • CMake: Optional Julia engine detection.

• bar, scatter manage color name and short colorname.

• Github CI Ubuntu 24.04 arm64 (Cobalt 100 processor).

• Github CI Snapcraft build amd64 and arm64.

• Snapcraft arm64.

Changed

• Completion .m files allows execution without extension.
• #1342 Github CI - Ubuntu-20.04 hosted runner image removed.

Fixed

• #1346 [display] integer in cell are displayed as double and not as integer.

v1.11.0

1.11.0 (2025-01-11)

Added

• #1321 mustBeSparse validator function.
• #1322 cmdsep: Command separator for current operating system.
• urlencode: Replace special characters in URLs with escape characters.
• docroot: Utility to retrieve or define the root directory of Nelson Help.
• ismodule: second input argument isprotected added.
• editor('editor_command', cmd) allows to change text editor in Nelson (for example: VS Code).
• NELSON_RUNTIME_PATH environment variable added by installer on Windows.
• --vscode command line argument added.
• NixOS 24.11 packaging (see BUILDING_Linux.md).

Changed

• Help Center: Access documentation in your system's web browser. Previously, the documentation was opened in the embedded Help browser.
• CA certificate store update.
• fmt library dependency updated.
• BS::threadpool library dependency updated.
• Advanced terminal updated (common for all platforms without GUI, auto completion, search history).
• Python 3.13.1 supported.

Fixed

• #1324 Cell display could not be interrupted.

v1.10.0

1.10.0 (2024-12-14)

Added

• detectImportOptions: Generate import options from the file's content.
• readtable: Read table from file.
• writetable: Write table to file.
• readcell: Read cell array from file.
• writecell: write cell array to file.
• readmatrix: read matrix from file.
• writematrix: write matrix to file.
• csvread: Read comma-separated value (CSV) file.
• csvwrite: Write comma-separated value (CSV) file.
• dlmread: Read ASCII-delimited file of numeric data into matrix.
• realmin: Smallest normalized floating-point number.
• #1288 mustBeMatrix, mustBeRow, mustBeColumn validator functions.
• join: Combine strings.
• #1292 Large Table Display.
• #1290 VariableTypes property for table: Specify the data types of table in Nelson.
• hour, minute, second component of input date and time.

Changed

• narginchk, nargoutchk support for check only minimun arguments narginchk(3, Inf).
• Fedora 41 CI
• title: Visible property is inherited from the parent if not explicitly defined.
• i18n: migration PO files to JSON.
• dlmwrite: rework the function to be more fast and robust.
• strjust: rework the function to be more fast and robust.
• datenum: support '' as format for compatibility.

Fixed

• #1303 datevec result must be normalized.
• #1297 some features have no help files.
• #1276 micromamba macos build.

v1.9.0

1.9.0 (2024-10-26)

Added

• Table direct computation:

  • unary functions: abs, acos, acosh, acot, acotd, acoth,
    acsc, acscd, acsch, asec, asecd, asech,
    asin, asind, asinh, atan, atand, atanh,
    ceil, cosd, cosh, cospi, cot, cotd,
    coth, csc, cscd, csch, exp, fix,
    floor, log, log10, log1p, log2, nextpow2,
    round, sec, secd, sech, sin, sind,
    sinh, sinpi, sqrt, tan, tand, tanh,
    var, acosd, not.
  • binary functions: plus, minus, times, eq, ge, gt, le,
    ne, lt, rdivide, rem, power, pow2, or, mod, ldivide.

• end magic keyword can be overloaded for classes (applied to table class).

• #1250 head, tail functions for table and array.

• #1248 removevars, renamevars functions for table.

Changed

• #1259 Add macOS Sequoia and remove macOS Monterey CI support.
• Qt 6.8 LTS support (used on Windows 64 bits binary).
• Python 3.13.0 on Windows.
• Boost 1.86 on Windows.

v1.8.0

1.8.0 (2024-10-04)

Added

• table Data Type:

  • Introduced the table data type, offering enhanced functionality for structured data manipulation.

  • Overloaded methods specific to the table data type:

    • disp, display for table display.
    • horzcat, vertcat for horizontal and vertical concatenation.
    • isempty to check if the table is empty.
    • isequal, isequalto for table comparison.
    • properties for accessing table metadata.
    • subsasgn for subscripted assignment.
    • subsref for subscripted referencing.

  • Conversion functions added:

    • array2table: Convert an array to a table.
    • cell2table: Convert a cell array to a table.
    • struct2table: Convert a structure to a table.
    • table2array: Convert a table to an array.
    • table2cell: Convert a table to a cell array.
    • table2struct: Convert a table to a structure.

  • Utility functions introduced:

    • width: Retrieve the number of columns in the table
    • height: Retrieve the number of rows in the table
    • istable: Check if a variable is of the table data type

• Resize - Resize figure property.

• #36 datenum format compatibility extended.

• #37 datestr Convert date and time to string format.

Changed

• CodeQL Github action updated.

Fixed

• fix 'units' refresh for 'axes' object.

v1.7.0

1.7.0 (2024-08-28)

Added

• uicontrol Create user interface control (button, slider, edit, list box, etc.).
• waitfor Block execution and wait for condition.
• waitforbuttonpress — Wait for click or key press.
• im2double — Convert image to double.
• CloseRequestFcn — Close request callback for figure.
• CreateFcn — Create callback for all graphic objects.
• DeleteFcn — Delete callback for all graphic objects.
• BusyAction — Busy action for all graphic objects.
• Interruptible — Interruptible property for all graphic objects.
• BeingDeleted — Being deleted property for all graphic objects.
• KeyPressFcn, KeyReleaseFcn, ButtonDownFcn properties for figure.

Changed

• Refactor the internal implementation of the 'system' built-in function.

• Python 3.12.5 on Windows.