matlab: Is a field of structure array actually a named cell array?

Question

I've googled topics about difference between cell array and array and had a vision that cell array actually stores pointers to content of elements.

Operator {} is like & in C, right?

When {} is applied to a variable {var_a,var_b}, we get a 1*2 "cell pointers" array to var_a and var_b? Is there a name for the "cell pointer"?

Does structure array take similar memory arrangement?

Take the example in the matlab document:

patient.name = 'John Doe';
patient.billing = 127.00;
patient.test = [79, 75, 73; 180, 178, 177.5; 172, 170, 169];

patient(2).name = 'Ann Lane';
patient(2).billing = 28.50;
patient(2).test = [68, 70, 68; 118, 118, 119; 172, 170, 169];

so the variable patient is like a 2*3 cell array except the field name?

patientcell{2,3}=...

I was wondering the notion below:

The dot operator in structure makes a deference to its content:

patient(1).test;

=> patientcell{1,3}

right?

Answer 1

Preallocation of cell array in matlab

It is reasonable to assume that a cell array is implemented as a continuous array of pointers, each pointing to the actual content of the cell.

How do i define a structure in Matlab

the structure is simply an array of pointer[s]