Octave class versus Matlab class

[Steve C. Thompson]

Dear Octave Help,

I'm trying to work with Matlab code that uses `class'.
This is new territory for me, so my problem may be a
lack of understanding `class'.  However, it might be
due to compatibility issues.

I'm confronted with something like:

  obj = class(s, 'class_name')

According to
http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/ref/class.html
this command:

  creates an object of MATLAB class 'class_name' using
  structure s as a template. This syntax is valid only in a
  function named class_name.m in a directory named
  @class_name (where 'class_name' is the same as the string
  passed in to class).

It appears that GNU Octave 

  [$ octave --version
   GNU Octave, version 2.1.73 (i486-pc-linux-gnu).
   Copyright (C) 2006 John W. Eaton.]

does not support this.  I do have `class', but

  octave:1> help class
  class is a built-in function

    -- Built-in Function:  class (EXPR)
        Return the class of the expression EXPR, as a
        string.

which is consistent with
http://octave.sourceforge.net/index/f/class.html.  So
it looks like Octave's `class' implements Matlab's

  str = class(object)

[http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/ref/class.html],
and not Matlab's other `class' conventions? If this is
the case, does anyone know of a work around?

Regards,
Steve Thompson