new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/standalonebuiltin.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#include <iostream>
+#include <octave/oct.h>
+#include <octave/builtin-defun-decls.h>
+
+int
+main (void)
+{
+
+  int n = 2;
+  Matrix a_matrix = Matrix (n, n);
+
+  for (octave_idx_type i = 0; i < n; i++)
+    for (octave_idx_type j = 0; j < n; j++)
+      a_matrix(i,j) = (i + 1) * 10 + (j + 1);
+
+  std::cout << "This is a matrix:" 
+            << std::endl 
+            << a_matrix
+            << std::endl;
+
+  octave_value_list in;
+  in(0) = a_matrix;
+
+  octave_value_list out = Fnorm (in, 1);
+  double norm_of_the_matrix = out(0).double_value ();
+
+  std::cout << "This is the norm of the matrix:" 
+            << std::endl 
+            << norm_of_the_matrix
+            << std::endl;
+  
+  return 0;
+}