Java

Java's thread sleep() function is much more accurate than Matlab's pause() function.

The ScreenCapture utility uses purely-documented Matlab for capturing a screen region as an image from within Matlab.

Matlab Command Window text can be formatted *bold* since R2011b.

Several Matlab utilities enable reading/writing spreadsheet data (including XLS files) in Macs, Linux.

The Matlab waitfor function can be used to wait for asynchronous Java/ActiveX events, as well as with timeouts.

Groovy code can seamlessly be run from within Matlab.

The import function can be used to clarify Java code used in Matlab.

Matlab menu items can easily display custom icons, using just a tiny bit of Java magic powder.

Matlab menu items can be customized in a variety of useful ways using their underlying Java object.

Java classes can easily be extended in Matlab, using pure Matlab code.