[jayruy]

Show me proper Matlab data structures, I/O libraries, and string manipulation and I might actually care about language features...

I do agree with all of these advantages of using Matlab in an environment where my data is already cleaned and normalized; I just rarely find myself in that position.

[eru]

Matlab has made great strides. They even have proper data structures now. String manipulation also got somewhat better, if I remember correctly. The problem is, that (like with C++) the standard string isn't the `right' string with all the advanced bits.

I do not know about I/O libraries. All my Matlab knowledge basically comes from helping out friends with Matlab problems, and reading the manual together with them.