What is your favourite MATLAB/Octave programming trick? [closed]

Answer 1

Using nargin to set default values for optional arguments and using nargout to set optional output arguments. Quick example

function hLine=myplot(x,y,plotColor,markerType)
% set defaults for optional paramters
if nargin<4, markerType='none'; end
if nargin<3, plotColor='k'; end

hL = plot(x,y,'linetype','-', ...  
              'color',plotColor, ...
              'marker',markerType, ...
              'markerFaceColor',plotColor,'markerEdgeColor',plotColor);

% return handle of plot object if required
if nargout>0, hLine = hL; end