MATLAB: Is 2014b faster

2014b2017bMATLABsimulink

I am running simulink via matlab scripts on data files. I am finding that 2017b runs them much slower than that of 2014b. 2014b takes 3-4min, while 2017b takes 25min for one file. I am not sure why this is or what can be done to fix it.
Any thoughts on what to look at or be concerned with would be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

This question pops up from time to time.
Every now and then, some functions are redesigned. Of course not all functions would be re-designed every release, but I would imagine that some functions get an overhaul more often than others. This is done to improve the speed, and/or precision, and/or flexibility of the function. For some specific use cases this will result in much slower code, even if on average everybody's code performance might improve.
Sometimes a lot of things get a major overhaul. The last time this happened very prominently was with R2014b, where the internal design of graphics elements was changed. This resulted in a wealth of new possibilities, and a lot of old code breaking (although that would in general only happen for undocumented uses).
The only real answer is: enjoy the release that works fastest, and use the debugging tool and the profiler to get a better look at the bottlenecks.
If you want help on a specific situation, you should post more details.