MATLAB: Does any elegant way to pass augments through nested function calls

functionfunction callsnestedvararginvariables

Hello,
I encountered some case of code which written like follows.
The problem is the augments are difficult to handle if these are named lengthy.
My question is does any ways keep the function structure but easier to handle and debug?
script.m
b = 1;
c = 2;
d = 3;
e = 4;
f = 5;
g = 6;
h = 7;
i = 8;
j = 9;
k = 'nest';
a = nestb(b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k)
nestb.m
function varargout = nestb(varargin)
    b = varargin{1}
    c = varargin{2}
    d = varargin{3}
    e = varargin{4}
    f = varargin{5}
    g = varargin{6}
    h = varargin{7}
    i = varargin{8}
    j = varargin{9}
    k = varargin{10}
    if numel{varargin} > 10
        test = varargin{11}
        qq = varargin{12}
        ww = varargin{13}
    end
    
    if b > 0
        tmpb = b + nestc(c,d,e,f)
    else
        tmpb = nestc(c,d,e,f)
    end
    varargout{1} = tmpb;
end
nestc.m
function varargout = nestc(varargin)
    c = varargin{1}
    d = varargin{2}
    e = varargin{3}
    f = varargin{4}
    g = varargin{5}
    h = varargin{6}
    i = varargin{7}
    j = varargin{8}
    k = varargin{9}
    if c > 0
        tmpc = c + nestd(d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k)
    else
        tmpc = nestd(d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k)
    end
    varargout{1} = tmpc;
end
nestd.m
function varargout = nestd(varargin)
    d = varargin{1}
    e = varargin{2}
    f = varargin{3}
    g = varargin{4}
    h = varargin{5}
    i = varargin{6}
    j = varargin{7}
    k = varargin{8}
    
    if isnumeric(k)
        tmpd = d + e + f + g + h + i + j + k;
    else
        tmpc = d + e + f + g + h + i + j;
    end
    varargout{1} = tmpd;
end

Best Answer

Instead of using vargin, you could include one input that is either a cell array or a structure.
Example using cell array
allInputs = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,'nest',[],[],[]}
a = nestb(allInputs)
function varargout = nestb(allInputs)
    % b will always be allInputs{1}
    % k will always be allInputs{11} (and it might be empty)
    % to determine which inputs are not empty:   ~cellfun(@isempty, allInputs)
    if allInputs{1} > 0
        tmpb = allInputs{1} + nestc(allInputs{2:5})
    else
        tmpb = nestc(allInputs{2:5})
    end
    varargout{1} = tmpb;
end
Example using structure
allInputs.b = 1;
allInputs.c = 2;
allInputs.d = 3;  %etc...
allInputs.k = 'nest'; 
a = nestb(allInputs)
function varargout = nestb(allInputs)
    % test will always be allInputs{11} and it might be empty 
    % to determine if a field exists:   isfield(allInputs, 'fieldname')
    if allInputs.b > 0
        tmpb = allInputs.b + nestc(allInputs) %adapt nestc() to handle structure input
    else
        tmpb = nestc(allInputs)
    end
    varargout{1} = tmpb;
end
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