New Matlab release vs updates

Hi,

I saw that Matlab R2020b is available. However, I just made the update 6 for my version R2020a.

My question is : is Matlab R2020b == Matlab R2020a update 6 ?

Should I preferably install the lastest version (R2020B), or are updates enough?

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

Are they the same? No. You can look at the release notes to see what changes were made, and to decide if anything in there is important to you. In some cases, you might see bugs fixed.

Should you install it? This is up to you. Note that there are no updates made to old releases from past years, so if there are problems that are found, those bugs will not be fixed if you stay in a previous release. Clearly they cannot keep maintaining releases over a span of many years, since that would take a massive amont of work. So once a year is quit, any patches and new features will go only into the new releases.

[Maria]

Thank you for the very clear answer!

[Image Analyst]

Note that new releases come out in mid-March and mid-September so R2021a should be out any day now. I generally install updates as soon as they are available.

[Maria]

Thanks for the hint!