MATLAB(r) Programming for Engineers [Paperback]

Stephen J. Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0534951511 | ISBN-13: 978-0534951511 | Edition: 1st

This text is an introduction to MATLAB as a technical programming language. It is written to teach students how to write clean, efficient, and well-documented MATLAB programs. Stephen Chapman emphasizes top-down programming methodology and encourages students to think about the proper design of a program before beginning to code. The book is carefully structured to provide the students with programming practice boxes that highlight good programming practices, boxes that detail common pitfalls in MATLAB programming, as well as numerous programming exercises and examples. The book is design to emphasize how to take advantage of MATLAB's unique functionality and write reliable MATLAB programs. Students are taught how to use MATLAB as a programming language and how to locate any desired function with MATLAB's extensive on-line help facilities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Chapman text is fairly easily read and there are a number of concrete examples in each chapter which illustrate the programming concepts.

There are numerous tips and suggestions given in the Chapman text. It's very good at illustrating the concepts of programming especially through the use of examples which demonstrate the output from the programs.

The homework exercises are plentiful and cover a range of difficulty. I like very much that plotting is interspersed throughout the book providing a break that students can enjoy in the middle of material that can often be seen as dry. The quizzes are also great. My students use them to verify their understanding of the sections in which they appear.

While reviewing this book I would simply pick up the book and read it, much like you would a novel. I was surprised that it read very well. The examples were well placed and greatly helped in understanding what was being presented. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Stephen J. Chapman is currently Manager of Technical Systems for British Aerospace Australia, in Melbourne, Australia. In this position, he provides technical direction and design authority for the work of younger engineers within the company. He is also continuing to teach at local universities on a part-time basis. Mr. Chapman is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (and several of its component societies). He is also a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institution of Engineers (Australia). From 1975 to 1980, he served as an officer in the U. S. Navy, assigned to teach Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Florida. From 1980 to 1982, he was affiliated with the University of Houston, where he ran the power systems program in the College of Technology. From 1982 to 1988 and from 1991 to 1995, he served as a Member of the Technical Staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, both at the main facility in Lexington, Massachusetts, and at the field site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. While there, he did research in radar signal processing systems. He ultimately became the leader of four large operational range instrumentation radars at the Kwajalein field site (TRADEX, ALTAIR, ALCOR, and MMW). From 1988 to 1991, Mr. Chapman was a research engineer in Shell Development Company in Houston, Texas, where he did seismic signal processing research. He was also affiliated with the University of Houston, where he continued to teach on a part-time basis. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pws Pub Co; 1st edition (December 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534951511
• ISBN-13: 978-0534951511
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,210,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It Could be Better., November 2, 2000

By 

Ethel Airton Capuano (Brasília Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MATLAB(r) Programming for Engineers (Paperback)

The book is a good start to MATLAB students but there is a lot of errors in the text. Despite the author's appeal asking everybody to show him the errors, I think it would be better to rewrite the book, mainly because his work could be more useful if he insert a specific chapter about I/O operations, which is, in my opinion, the most dificult thing to do in MATLAB. Examples of I/O operations with several data formats would be useful too.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good first book for beginners, August 23, 2002

By 

it (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MATLAB Programming for Engineers (Paperback)

I am not a full time computer programmer. In spite of my limited programming experience, I was able to follow the lessons in this book. The information is presented in a logical sequence and fully explained and illustrated. As the title suggests, this book is for engineers who need answers for their own use and is not intended to show you how to make fancy illustrations for presentations.
There are two shortcomings that bothered me. One is the lack of a table at the end of each chapter listing the other commands and functions that do almost the same thing as the ones covered in the chapter. This would increase this book's usefulness as a reference. The other problem is the end of each chapter having an illustration of some interesting engineering project or concept. One claimed that Matlab could be used to drastically improve the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles. The other was a half baked political statement to the effect that you would be better off giving irrevocable control of your life over to a group of people who have a history of looking after their own interests first and others second. Of course this suggestion was worded in an appealing style.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, February 1, 2009

By 

Deedee (California USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MATLAB Programming for Engineers (Paperback)

The book is expensive for paperback but it is very helpful for my matlab class. If you have the previous version already, don't bother with this one its almost the same except some homework problems are switched (just find a friend and write down the problem). B+