Customer Reviews

Mastering MATLAB 6

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am going to also write a review on "Matlab Guide", I will be also comparing the two books in the reviews.

If you are considering Matlab as a scientific computing language - look no more. It has licensened the "Maple Kernal" as part of its "Math Symbolic ToolBox", it uses LAPAK from FORTRAN for the algorithms for Matrix operations; it uses a high level language (very C++ like) and its own consise syntax for matrix manipulations as well as "Handle Graphics" to produce impressive looking plots and reports. In otherwords, it combines the best of various approaches. If you do not know C++, I advise that learn that first before attempting to learn Matlab.

Comparing "Mastering Matlab 6" (MM6) to "Matlab Guide" (MG):

*Both books are NOT for absolute Beginners, I think the assumption is that you will first study the book that comes with Matlab and the supurb "Help" Documentation that comes with the program. There are also good starting out tutorials on the net - search: "Matlab; Tutorial". The US Navy has a consise tutorial to get you started.

*MM6 does a better job on teaching to the next level beyond the Mathworks supplied documentation and beggining Tutorials.

*MM6 WINS HANDSDOWN ON TEACHING version new to 6.0 specific features. You are short changing yourself by going for a 5.0 text.

*MM6 is geared more towards a programmer/scientist/engineer; whereas, MG is geared to a mathematician. MM6 is comprehensive (800 pages!), but well organized that you can branch off to a given chapter without covering all prior chapters. Because I had a problem to solve, I started on Chapter 18, "Interpolation" without any problems. If you have no immediate issue - taking the book in order is advised. BUT THE BOOK IS WELL CROSS-REFERENCED THAT you can jump ahead to a topc of interest.

**MM6 is real modern: There are 4 chapters (out of 28) that delve into the Object Oriented aspects of Matlab, interfacing to C or Fortran, Extending Matlab with Java and integrating Matlab with Windows using Active X. 7 Chapters are devoted to Graphics, Interface, Movies. 9 Chapters are devoted to Topics that a modern Scientist or Engineer would need to know to take advantage of Matlab: ODEs, Optimization, Fourier Analysis. MM6 covers the topics in detail. Other chapters really get down to the nitty gritty of the Matlab programming language.

I believe that MM6 is ideal for an Engineer/Scientist who is looking for a book to take him or her from the Apprentice to a Journeyman level in Matlab. Beyond that, the books would have to become more specialty (Chem E, Controls,...) orientated. This will get you to the plane where you can then focus on your specialty.

This book is well written, well laid-out, well programmed and will be useful to anyone either as an introduction, as a reference or as a learning guide companion to ML. It tries to be as general as possible - with concise but very clear text - and still manages to illustrate with good code examples most of the material it covers, which is quite extensive. You won't be left with a single major feature or important language instruction of ML left uncovered.

I am familiar so far with the books 'Advanced Engineering Mathematics with ML' by Haman et al and 'An Engineer's Guide to ML' by Magrab et al. Both are excellent books and these 3 texts complement themselves in many ways. But if I had to have a single ML book, I would prefer this one without a doubt.

the engineer's guide to matlab is MUCH BETTER!! there are no good examples showing how to fully utilize each function. the book is very basic and probably covers only about 1% of the full capabilities of matlab. after using this book i was no better prepared to handle any homework problem than if hadn't used the book!! i am extremely disappointed!!

This book didn't help so much as a tutorial when I was first getting started. The Matlab online tutorials do a better job. However, where this book really shines is when you have to take the next step and create applications.

This book demonstrates the tips and tricks to really make Matlab come alive as a language.

This is the single best general-purpose text on Matlab published to date. It includes a lucid tutorial on basic principles of Matlab programming for new users. It also effectively documents all Matlab topics in depth, and provides illustrative programming examples in each area. While the book is perforce not as detailed on every Matlab topic as the Matlab-supplied documentation, the authors have done an excellent job in selecting and organizing the most important reference material, and have presented it in a manner that facilitates rapid retrieval.

I refer to this book constantly, and consider it to be indispensable for the serious Matlab user.

A well written, comprehensive text covering the latest Matlab release (R12). I wouldn't recommend reading this book it's a little terse, but it is an ideal reference for new or experienced Matlab users.

This book was given to me by the Mathworks company during Matlab training. I think it speaks highly of the book that the creators of Matlab endorse this book.

This book is not worth much with respect to what you get from it. In fact, the author seems to have taken material directly from introductory text in each of the Matlab documentation's chapters. Even the examples are the same, which is extremely disappointing, and makes me feel like I was ripped off. If you have the Matlab documentation (online or printed) then this book will not be of too much help.

FYI: This 814 page text cannot be as complete as the 4500+ pages of documentation that comes with MATLAB. It does assume that the user knows at least a little about programming (e.g., terms such as "array" and "For Loop" should be recognizable). This text is a comprehensive survey of the base MATLAB product, which has over 300 built in functions and over 1000 M-file functions. The text follows a rule of providing 80% of the information needed in 20% of the space needed to cover everything. The goals of this text are: (a) Introduce MATLAB to the novice user, (b) Document MATLAB for the experienced user, (c) Illustrate all key features, and (d) Most importantly, demonstrate by example how to write efficient MATLAB code. This text does not show you how to define data structures for a homework problem, but will help you solve it efficiently after the data structures are set up.

Version 6 of Matlab is improved in graphic use interface and efficiency of computation as well as compatibility with other languages like C++. "Mastering MATLAB 6" is the best choice of book on Matlab for its detailed coverage on graphics and interface with other programming languages. Only weakness of Matlab is its capability of analytical computation, and it is preferred to use Maple for analytical calculation. The most respected programming book on Maple is "Maple Programming Guide". "Mastering MATLAB 6" and "Maple Programming Guide" are the investment which you will not regret.

Most of my needs are fairly simple: some arithmetic, some algebra, some graphs, all as part of what I was really working on. Matlab is a helpful tool with legible syntax, and gives a good introduction to the first few dozen things I needed.

Matlab is very extensible. There are lots of specialty packages, GUI extensions, and hooks for custom programming. Fine. That's way past what I want right now. This gets me into Matlab and gets my job done.

Maybe experts want something more, but this is a good first book for anyone already familiar with programming.