Understanding how to call function inside a classdef module

I would like to understand how best to call an internal method within a classdef module. I have seen two syntaxes used, and either seems to work. (I am not great with the terminology, so please correct me if it adds clarity.)

Syntax 1:

 set_messages( obj, message)

Syntax 2:

obj.set_message( message )

Mathworks says either one will work, and I have no reason not to beleive that: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_oop/specifying-methods-and-functions.html

Are there advantages to either syntax? Is either preferable? Is one better if the method called is from a different class? Thanks in advance.

Here is a simple example using Syntax 1.

classdef myObj < handle
    properties ( SetAccess = public )
        message
    end  
    methods
        function set_message( obj, message )
            obj.message = message;
        end
        function upper_message( obj, message )
            set_message( obj, upper( message ) );
        end
    end
end

Answer 1

[Matt J]

Neither one is preferable to the other as long as you haven't overloaded dot indexing for something else. As of 2021b, it is possible to overload how dot indexign works within the class,

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/matlab.mixin.indexing.redefinesdot.dotreference.html?searchHighlight=dotReference&s_tid=srchtitle_dotReference_1

If you think you might want to do that later, don't use dot indexing for method calls everywhere in your classdef.

[Steven Lord]

There is another kind of specific circumstance where those two syntaxes can behave differently but it involves having multiple classes and an explicit statement of one of those classes being inferior to the other. See "Case Where Result Is Different" on this documentation page for the technical details.

But for the most part they are equivalent.