Re: 'for' loop on elements of cell array (octave-3.4.2) - is it the way it is supposed to be ?

[Sergei Steshenko]

>________________________________
> From: James Sherman Jr. <address@hidden>
>To: Sergei Steshenko <address@hidden> 
>Cc: Ben Abbott <address@hidden>; "address@hidden" <address@hidden> 
>Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2012 5:09 PM
>Subject: Re: 'for' loop on elements of cell array (octave-3.4.2) - is it the 
>way it is supposed to be ?
> 
>
>[snip]
>
>
>The behavior is consistent, as far as I can tell.  Look at the columns of your 
>foolist:
>
>
>octave:9> foolist = {1,2,5}
>foolist =
>{
>  [1,1] =  1
>  [1,2] =  2
>  [1,3] =  5
>}
>octave:10> foolist(:,1)
>ans =
>{
>  [1,1] =  1
>}
>octave:11> foolist(:,2)
>ans =
>{
>  [1,1] =  2
>}
>octave:12> foolist(:,3)
>ans =
>{
>  [1,1] =  5
>}
>
>
>Each loop of your for statement output the corresponding column of foolist.
>
>
>Hope this helps.
>

I am not sure the behavior is consistent. That is, I am not sure an element of 
cell array is _always_ cell array.

Here is my point:

"
octave:1> a_vector = [1 2 3]
a_vector =

   1   2   3

octave:2> for foo = a_vector foo endfor
foo =  1
foo =  2
foo =  3

octave:3>   

"
.

I have created a vector called 'a_vector', and to denote that it's a vector 
I've used '[', ']' delimiters. Elements of the vector are _numeric_ and as such 
they are displayed in the loop body as numeric _without_ delimiters - makes 
sense to me.

With my cell array, though its elements are _numeric_ too, delimiters _are_ 
used to display 'foo' in the loop body. And it doesn't make sense to me.

Regards,
  Sergei.