What are the differences between DATASET and TABLE in MATLAB 8.2 (R2013b)?

I would like to know what the differences are between the new TABLE and the old DATASET. When should I use TABLE versus a DATASET?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

Broadly speaking, Tables and datasets essentially serve the same functionality. Following are some of the differences:

1) Tables are included as part of core MATLAB, and do not need the installation of Statistics Toolbox to use them. Moreover, their design and terminology makes them a bit more accessible for non-statistical users, though they remain just as useful for statistics.

2) TABLE is ultimately meant to replace DATASET over time. Hence it is recommended to use TABLE in place of DATASET. Please note that this transition will not happen immediately and upcoming releases will provide more details and strategies for making the transition.

3) Before R2014a, You still needed to use DATASET in the Statistics Toolbox while using classes such as ‘LinearModel’ and ‘LinearMixedModel’ (which was new in MATAB R2013b). It is recommended to use TABLE and converting to DATASET only when needed, using TABLE2DATASET. As of 2014a and later, this is no longer true.

4) The TABLE class is currently sealed. Hence it is not possible to subclass from it unlike the DATASET class which can be inherited by a subclass.

[Tom Lane]

Item 3 is no longer true. I'm not aware of any situations where a Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox will accept a dataset but not a table.

[Nathan S]

Thanks, I have updated the answer. The changes should propagate soon.