What is MATLAB?

Last updated on 2024-10-29 | Edit this page

Overview

Questions

  • What does MATLAB do?
  • How can MATLAB help my Research?
  • Is MATLAB the best tool for my Research project?

Objectives

  • Explain what tasks MATLAB is well suited for
  • Explain how MATLAB compares to other common tools (Python, R)
  • Understand the trade-offs of choosing MATLAB as a tool

Introduction

What is MATLAB?

MATLAB is a high-level propriety programming language and interactive environment primarily designed for numerical computing, data analysis, and scientific visualization. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for tasks such as matrix manipulation, algorithm development, data plotting, and interfacing with other programming languages. Its user-friendly interface and extensive library of functions make it a popular choice among researchers, engineers, and scientists.

Propriety

MATLAB is a propriety language, this means it is owned by a specific company, MathWorks. Therefore it’s source code is not publically available (i.e., it is the opposite of open-source) and the software is licensed for use under specific terms and conditions. There are many pros and cons of working with propriety software.

Discuss pros & cons

Discuss or think about what might be some of the advantages and disadvantages of software being owned by a single company.

Feature Proprietary Open Source
Cost Individual MATLAB license is £800/year (£59 one time for students) Nearly always free
Documentation Single documentation site with everything you need to know Can be spread around many site, different communities contributing different documentation
Support Single company to ask support queries and report bugs to Reliant on a spread out community for support with no single best place to go
Adoption Typically used in large companies and academia due to cost Widely adopted across all parts of the community

Why MATLAB?

While many research tools can accomplish tasks similar to MATLAB, understanding MATLAB’s strengths and weaknesses in comparison is important. Two of the main alternative languages you may have heard of are Python and R (r-project). These are often compared because all 3 languages are often used for research.

Low-level code languages are closer to the machine’s language, requiring more precise instructions for the computer to understand. They offer greater control over hardware but are more complex to write and debug. High-level code languages are more abstract and human-readable, translating simpler instructions into the complex machine code. They are easier to learn and maintain but may sacrifice some performance efficiency compared to low-level languages.

MATLAB is considered to be on the high-level end of languages, making it relatively easy to read and work with.

Key Points

  • MATLAB is used in many fields and can be used to analysis, process, model and much more