Introduction to Programming with MATLAB for Scientists and Engineers [CD-ROM]

William W. Broenkow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2001

This book is unique in the world of MATLAB texts, because it does not assume previous programming experience, nor does it focus on a particular engineering, mathematics or science specialty. It is published on Compact Disk in the Adobe Portable Document Format ©. The Adobe Acrobat® reader is available freely from Adobe on the Internet. The digital format offers several advantages: low production cost, use of full color images and color highlighted text. Use of Acrobat Portable Document Files (pdf) insures that the digital format is compatible across all operating systems. The entire 840 page book or sections may be printed.

The text is written for Junior or Senior students in science or engineering programs and assumes the reader has completed two years of college course work. The text emphasizes interactive learning by presenting all new functions and commands in nearly 700 worked Examples. MATLAB is an interpretive, function based language that allows easy experimentation with short program fragments. Students type a single or few MATLAB statements from the Examples on the command line; the text explains the results in clear and concise language. As the student progresses through the material, these command line Examples are collected into scripts, which are complete MATLAB programs.

The outline of the course follows traditional programming books: Chapter 1 discusses computer languages and computer hardware. Chapter 2 describes the MATLAB programming environment for the PC including the MATLAB Command Window, the Editor, and Help system. Chapter 3 introduces number systems: binary, hexadecimal and octal and explains their application to computer programming. Chapter 4 discusses MATLAB data types: floating-point double precision, character, and integer. Chapter 5 describes the use of vectors which are one-dimensional matrices that are the heart of MATLAB.

Each chapter includes several programming Exercises, because as is emphasized throughout the text,

"Programming is Not a Spectator Sport"

Creating MATLAB programs is introduced in Chapter 6 through a succession of simple to more powerful scripts, which are collections of MATLAB statements. Chapter 7 introduces repetition using the for ... end loop, and Chapter 8 treats the 2-dimensional matrix which was central to MATLAB's development as a "matrix laboratory". While using basic instructions, Chapter 9 illustrates the structured, organized approach to program development.

The student is encouraged to use the powerful MATLAB command line environment to test program statements before committing them to the program file, and MATLAB graphics are presented at an early stage as an enticement to continue. The text waits until Chapters 10 and to introduce conditional and relational operators used to construct loops.

Functions in Chapter 12 constitute what may be considered to be the heart of the book. The function is the only subprogram unit in MATLAB. This, the absence of a "goto" statement, and the while statement discussed in Chapter 11 make MATLAB a great teaching language.

Chapter 13 is devoted to the single function, fprintf, which is very much like its C counterpart. The following chapter introduces the char variable type, and the excellent MATLAB text processing function library. "Great Graphs" in Chapter 15 examines the plot function which is perhaps the single most important reason why MATLAB has "caught-on" with science and engineering professionals. The chapter illustrates the process and data types used to create line graphs, images.

In Chapters 16 and 17 the book introduces the process of reading a writing data files. Chapter 16 is devoted to text or ASCII files, while the next concerns binary files. Chapter 17 concludes with a "Case Study"; a program called "hexd

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Broenkow is Professor of Oceanography at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, near Monterey, California. The author has been programming since the days when ships were wooden and programs were punched on cards. He earned a B.S. in chemistry at Gonzaga University, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of Washington. At Moss Landing Marine Labs, a small facility operated by seven California State Universities, he teaches physical oceanography, satellite oceanography and his favorite course, "Applications of Computers to Oceanography", in which this text had its beginnings.

Product Details

• CD-ROM: 840 pages
• Publisher: MLbooks (February 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0970468504
• ISBN-13: 978-0970468505
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,670,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good as a basic introduction to programming, August 14, 2002

By 

"snoeyink" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Programming with MATLAB for Scientists and Engineers (CD-ROM)

If you are familiar with computers and want to learn MATLAB, then you buy Higham & Higham. If you want to learn numerical analysis, then you buy one of several good books that teach MATLAB in an appendix. But if you want to learn to program and think MATLAB would be useful in your work, then this is the best of the books that I have seen.

I'm teaching such a programming course this semester, so I'll be able to evaluate with more confidence afterward. So far, I like the author's sense of humor, comments on examples, and pithy maxims. Since one of these is that "programming is not a spectator sport", I hope that this book will help students who need a detailed introduction get it while reading and playing with MATLAB. The lectures can supplement with interesting applications that build on the material in the order that it is presented (at the rate of a chapter per each lecture).

CD-only distribution is a potentially fatal flaw. Fortunately, the price is low so even if you print from the CD, it is still cheaper than Herniter's paperback textbook, and maybe even Hahn's.

2.0 out of 5 stars intro to matlab by Broenkow, August 23, 2001

By 

carl senior (Bethesda, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Programming with MATLAB for Scientists and Engineers (CD-ROM)

This book is indeed a basic text - however it misses the mark a bit and is a bit too basic ! For example - in several places the author describes the early development of computers in general and not the development of MATLAB (iam not to sure that such a history would be relevent anyway). Even so, the use of MATLAB glossarys is good and the inclsuion of various M-Files with the CD is a good idea. But what ever possesed the publisher to create the book solely on CD ! This is a terrible format to produce books in - i had to spend 3 days by the printer waiting for the chapers to come out - the additional expense that was incurred by me enraged me ! A collection of PDF files on CD ROM should not cost 25 dollars ! for this price i would expect a text book as well as the cd rom - if this is the trend that will be picked up by publisher then we are all in for some rough times ahead !

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Keep your money and go to buy some beers!, March 29, 2002

By 

Mario Treviño Villegas (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Programming with MATLAB for Scientists and Engineers (CD-ROM)

If you have matlabs documentation by you, you should read it carefully and avoid buying this "book", wich is nothing but the authors reprinting of it. What I really dont understand is what the subtitle "for Scientists and Engineers" is supposed to mean. If you are either a Scientist or an Engineer, so you shouldt buy this cd. If you are in highschool and are slowminded, so go for it...