Julia language basic elements and aspects to keep in mind (from a MATLAB and R user perspective).

julia_basics.jl

# mutating functions (modify arguments passed to them): end with ! (e.g. push! below)
# arguments are passed by reference

# just as e.g. mutable lists in Python, arrays are assigned by reference
# CAUTION here as in Python
A = zeros(2,3);
B = A;
# to avoid that use copying as in Python
C = A[:,:];
A[2,3] = 5;
B  # modified since B references the same object
C  # separate object, unmodified

# push! to append elements
q=[1;2];
push!(q,3) # q has been changed

# comprehensions
[ x[i]+x[i+1] for i=1:9 ]