classdef MyConstants
    properties (Constant = true)
        SECONDS_PER_HOUR = 60*60;
        DISTANCE_TO_MOON_KM = 384403;
    end
end

>> disp(MyConstants.SECONDS_PER_HOUR)
        3600

>> MyConstants.SECONDS_PER_HOUR
ans =
        3600
>> MyConstants.SECONDS_PER_HOUR = 42
MyConstants =
    SECONDS_PER_HOUR: 42
>> whos
  Name             Size            Bytes  Class     Attributes

  MyConstants      1x1               132  struct
  ans              1x1                 8  double

function broken_constant_use
MyConstants(); % "import" to protect assignment
MyConstants.SECONDS_PER_HOUR = 42 % this bug is a syntax error now

tic;
for n = 1:N
    a = myObj.field;
end
t = toc;

classdef TestObj
    properties
        field = 10;
    end
end

classdef TestHandleObj < handle
    properties
        field = 10;
    end
end

classdef TestConstant
    properties (Constant)
        field = 10;
    end
end

Access(s)  Assign(s)  Type of object/call
  0.0034    0.0042    'myObj.field'
  0.0033    0.0042    'myStruct.field'
  0.0034    0.0033    'myVar'                   //Plain old workspace evaluation
  0.0033    0.0042    'myNestedObj.obj.field'
  0.1581    0.3066    'myHandleObj.field'
  0.1694    0.3124    'myNestedHandleObj.handleObj.field'
 29.2161         -    'TestConstant.const'      //Call directly to class(supposed to be faster)
  0.0034         -    'myTestConstant.const'    //Create an instance of TestConstant
  0.0051    0.0078    'TestObj > methods'       //This calls get and set methods that loop internally
  0.1574    0.3053    'TestHandleObj > methods' //get and set methods (internal loop)

12.18     17.53      'jObj.field > in matlab for loop'
  0.0043    0.0039    'jObj.get and jObj.set loop N times internally'

public class JtestObj {
    public double field = 10;

    public double getMe() {
        double N = 1000000;
        double val = 0;
        for (int i = 1; i < N; i++) {
            val = this.field;
        }

        return val;
     }

     public void setMe(double val) {
        double N = 1000000;
        for (int i = 1; i < N; i++){
            this.field = val;
        }
     }
  }

% Define constants
params.PI = 3.1416;
params.SQRT2 = 1.414;

% Call a function which needs one or more of the constants
myFunction( params );

params = getConstants();