MATLAB / programming for engineers
Undergraduate · Engineering
Syllabus focus
Topics typically covered
Standard syllabus
MATLAB language core
- Workspace, scripts, and live scripts/notebooks
- Vectors, matrices, and array indexing
- Element-wise vs matrix operations
- Relational/logical indexing and masking
- Control flow: if, for, while, and switch
- Functions, local functions, and path management
Visualization and data
- 2D/3D plotting and annotation
- Importing CSV/Excel and cleaning tables (intro)
- Structures, cells, and tables
- File I/O and publishing reports
- Debugging with breakpoints and dbstack
- Coding style and comments for team use
Numerical methods in MATLAB
- Root finding and fzero/fsolve survey
- Interpolation and curve fitting
- Numerical integration and differentiation
- ODE solvers (ode45 family) intro
- Linear systems: backslash and condition awareness
- Random numbers and Monte Carlo intro
STEM / applied
Engineering applications
- Signal processing basics with vectors (FFT survey)
- Control examples: step response plotting
- Statics/dynamics or circuits homework automation
- Image matrices and simple processing (optional)
- Simulink awareness if required by the course
- Optimization toolbox survey (fmincon/fminsearch)
Professional practice
- Version control for MATLAB projects (intro)
- Unit testing with matlab.unittest (intro)
- Performance: vectorization vs loops
- Reproducible figures for lab reports
- Interfacing with Python/Excel when needed
- Capstone: scripted analysis of an engineering dataset
Notes
Some departments use Python instead; tutoring follows the assigned language/tool. Catalog track is Standard + STEM.