recent version of Matlab (the code is tested mostly on the latest versions R2015b-R2019a)
no extra Matlab toolbox is necessary for numerical calculations
for the optional symbolic calculations the Symbolic Math Toolbox is necessary
How to install SpinW
unzip the downloaded SpinW files into a folder, e.g. spinw, there will be a subdirectory like spinw_2-0beta_rev195, where 2-0 is the version and rev195 is the revision number
add all the subdirectories of spinw/spinw_2-0beta_rev195 to the Matlab path
to make the path permanent put the following command into the startup.m file (by using edit startup command): addpath(genpath([YOUR_PATH '/spinw/spinw_2-0beta_rev195'])) where YOUR_PATH is the path of the SpinW folder
Updating
since SpinW is under active development, the files are often updated (new features, bug fixes)
to update your installation, execute the sw_update() function in the Matlab Command Line, this will check for the latest available version and downloads it into a new subfolder under /spinw/ and adds the new files to the Matlab search path
to make the new path permanent, edit the startup.m file as written above
execute the clear classes command in the Command Line to clear the Matlab cache of user defined classes