MATLAB GUI and MOSEK logging: a trick worth to know!

Are you a MATLAB GUI user? Are you solving a large amount of problems? Are you solving small problems? If so, there is trick that can be handy for you to speed up MOSEK!

The usual way to call MOSEK using the MATLAB toolbox is

[r,res] = mosekopt('minimize',prob);

where prob is a structure that holds the problem information. To suppress the solver logging you can set the option MSK_IPAR_LOG to zero. Instead, try to use

[r,res] = mosekopt('minimize echo(0)',prob);

and check the running time: you should see a reduction! This is due to the way MOSEK output is generated in our MATLAB toolbox.

You can add the string "echo(0)" to any command passed on to the solver, i.e.

 [r,res] = mosekopt('any_command echo(0)',prob);

The running time reduction is NOT proportional to the problem size, but roughly to the amount of output. This is why you may gain significantly if you solve:

1. small problems: because the solver running time might be dominated by the output
2. a large amount of problems: because the gain will sum up

Note that the trick does not apply to the MATLAB interface of the Fusion API.