Why Matlab?

Why should use MATLAB (Matrix Laboratory)?

MATLAB has several advantages over other methods or languages:

* Its basic data element is the matrix. A simple integer is considered an matrix of one row and one column.  Several mathematical operations that work on arrays or matrices are built-in to the Matlab environment. For example, cross-products, dot-products, determinants, inverse matrices.

* Vectorized operations. Adding two arrays together needs only one command, instead of a for or while loop.

* The graphical output is optimized for interaction. You can plot your data very easily, and then change colors, sizes, scales, etc, by using the graphical interactive tools.

* Matlab’s functionality can be greatly expanded by the addition of toolboxes. These are sets of specific functions that provided more specialized functionality. Ex: Excel link allows data to be written in a format recognized by Excel, Statistics Toolbox allows more specialized statistical manipulation of data (Anova, Basic Fits, etc)

* Matlab in not only a programming language, but a programming environment as well. we can perform operations from the command line, as a sophisticated calculator Or we can create programs and functions that perform repetitive tasks, just as any other computer language.

Matlab Releases - Versions

Matlab Releases - Versions 
MATLAB 1.0
MATLAB 2
MATLAB 3
MATLAB 3.5
MATLAB 4
MATLAB 4.2c
MATLAB 5.0
MATLAB 5.1
MATLAB 5.1.1
MATLAB 5.2
MATLAB 5.2.1
MATLAB 5.3
MATLAB 5.3.1
MATLAB 6.0
MATLAB 6.1
MATLAB 6.5
MATLAB 6.5.1
MATLAB 6.5.2
MATLAB 7
MATLAB 7.0.1
MATLAB 7.0.4
MATLAB 7.1
MATLAB 7.2
MATLAB 7.3
MATLAB 7.4
MATLAB 7.5
MATLAB 7.6
MATLAB 7.7
MATLAB 7.8
MATLAB 7.9
MATLAB 7.9.1
MATLAB 7.10
MATLAB 7.11
MATLAB 7.11.1
MATLAB 7.12

Matlab - File Extensions

File Extensions


Native
.fig
MATLAB Figure


.m 
MATLAB function, script, or class


.mat 
MATLAB binary file for storing variables


.mex... 
MATLAB executable (platform specific, e.g. ".mexmac" for the Mac, ".mexglx" for Linux, etc.)


.p 
MATLAB content-obscured .m file (result of pcode() )


Third-party
.jkt 
GPU Cache file generated by Jacket for MATLAB (AccelerEyes)


.mum 
MATLAB CAPE-OPEN Unit Operation Model File (AmsterCHEM)

Matlab Applications

MATLAB APPLICATIONS
* Communications Systems
* Computational Biology
* Computational Finance
* Control Systems
* Digital Signal Processing
* Embedded Systems
* FPGA Design
* Image and Video Processing
* Mechatronics
* Technical Computing
* Test and Measurement

Matlab Add-on Products

MATLAB ADD-ON PRODUCTS

MATLAB is the foundation for Simulink® and all other MathWorks™ products, and can be extended with add-on products for:

* Parallel Computing

* Math, Statistics, and Optimization

* Control System Design and Analysis

* Signal Processing and Communications

* Image Processing and Computer Vision

* Test & Measurement

* Computational Finance

* Computational Biology

* Code Generation

* Application Deployment

* Database Connectivity and Reporting

History - Matlab

HISTORY

Cleve Moler, the chairman of the computer-science department at the University of New Mexico, started developing MATLAB in the late 1970s. He designed it to give his students access to LINPACK and EISPACK without their having to learn Fortran. It soon spread to other universities and found a strong audience within the applied mathematics community.

Jack Little, an engineer, was exposed to it during a visit Moler made to Stanford University in 1983. Recognizing its commercial potential, he joined with Moler and Steve Bangert. They rewrote MATLAB in C and founded MathWorks in 1984 to continue its development. These rewritten libraries were known as JACKPAC.

In 2000, MATLAB was rewritten to use a newer set of libraries for matrix manipulation, LAPACK. MATLAB was first adopted by researchers and practitioners in control engineering, Little's specialty, but quickly spread to many other domains. It is now also used in education, in particular the teaching of linear algebra and numerical analysis, and is popular amongst scientists involved in image processing.

However, many researchers mostly from Computer Science background feel that MATLAB should be used only for mathematical analysis necessary in image processing and not for implementation of image processing software. Moreover, MATLAB should not be used to simulate computer architectures, systems software and computer networks unless while solving some numeric problem.

MATLAB Developer(s)

MathWorks

Stable release

R2011a / April 8, 2011; 4 months ago

  

Operating system

Cross-platform

Paradigm(s)

Multi-paradigm: imperative, procedural, object-oriented, array

Written in

C, Java

Type

Technical Computing

License

Proprietary

  

Appeared in

late 1970s

Developer

MathWorks

Typing discipline

Dynamic, Weak

OS

Cross-platform

What is MATLAB?

MATLAB

MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages, including C, C++, Java, and Fortran.

Although MATLAB is intended primarily for numerical computing, an optional toolbox uses the MuPAD symbolic engine, allowing access to symbolic computing capabilities. An additional package, Simulink, adds graphical multi-domain simulation and Model-Based Design for dynamic and embedded systems.

In 2004, MATLAB had around one million users across industry and academia. MATLAB users come from various backgrounds of engineering, science, and economics. MATLAB is widely used in academic and research institutions as well as industrial enterprises.

The name MATLAB stands for MATrix LABoratory. MATLAB was written originally to provide easy access to matrix software developed by the LINPACK (linear system package) and EISPACK (Eigen system package) projects. MATLAB is a high-performance language for technical computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and programming environment. Furthermore, MATLAB is a modern programming language environment: it has sophisticated data structures, contains built-in editing and debugging tools, and supports object-oriented programming. These factors make MATLAB an excellent tool for teaching and research.

MATLAB has many advantages compared to conventional computer languages (e.g.,C, FORTRAN) for solving technical problems. MATLAB is an interactive system whose basic data element is an array that does not require dimensioning. The software package has been commercially available since 1984 and is now considered as a standard tool at most universities and industries worldwide.

It has powerful built-in routines that enable a very wide variety of computations. It also has easy to use graphics commands that make the visualization of results immediately available. Specific applications are collected in packages referred to as toolbox. There are toolboxes for signal processing, symbolic computation, control theory, simulation, optimization, and several other fields of applied science and engineering