Introduction to MATLAB

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 program-
ming. These factors make MATLAB an excellent tool for teaching and research.

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 has many advantages compared to conventional computer languages (e.g.,

C, FORTRAN) for solving technical problems.

Tool boxes:
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.

MATLAB windows:

The MATLAB window generally contains following subwindows.

1. Command window
2. Current directory
3. Work space
4. Command history
5. Figure window
6. Editor window
Command window:
This is the main window. All commands including those for running user written
programs are typed in this window.
Current directory:
This is where all the files from the current directory are registered. We can do any
manipulations on the files on selecting them, like RENAMING, DELETING etc..,.
Work space
This window lists all variables that have been generated and their type and size. We
can do various things with these variables like plotting etc..,.
Command history
All commands typed on the MATLAB prompt in the command window gets recorded.
The same commands can be repeated by selecting on double clicking the commands in
the history.
Figure window
The output of all graphic command typed in the command window is shown on a
separate window. The user can create as many figure windows as the system memory
allow.
Editor window
This is where we write edit, create and save the programs in files call M-files. These
files can be of any type like M-files, MAT-files, Fig-files, P-files etc..,.
Advantages of MATLAB
MATLAB is a widely used tool in the engineering community. It can be used for simple
mathematical manipulations with matrices, for understanding and teaching basic
mathematical and engineering concepts, and even for studying and simulating actual
power systems and electrical systems in general. The original concept of a small and
handy tool has evolved to become an engineering work house. It is now accepted that
MATLAB and its numerous toolboxes can replace and/or enhance the usage of
traditional simulation tools for advanced engineering applications.