MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a multi-paradigm numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. A patented programming language developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows manipulation of arrays, tracing of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces and interconnection with programs written in other languages, including C, C ++, C #, Java, Fortran and Python.
Although MATLAB is primarily intended for numerical computing, an optional toolbox uses the MuPAD symbolic engine, which allows access to symbolic computing skills. An additional package, Simulink, adds multi-domain graphical simulation and model-based design for dynamic and integrated systems.
In 2004, MATLAB had about one million users in the industry and the academic world. MATLAB users come from diverse backgrounds in engineering, science and economics.
Cleve Moler, the chairman of the computer science department at the University of New Mexico, began developing MATLAB in the late 1970s. He designed to give his students access to LINPACK and EISPACK without them having to learn Fortran. He soon spread to other universities and found a strong audience within the applied math community. Jack Little, an engineer, was exposed to it during a visit Moler made to Stanford University in 1983. Recognizing his commercial potential, he joined Moler and Steve Bangert. They rewrote MATLAB in C and founded MathWorks in 1984 to continue their development. These rewritten libraries were known as JACKPAC. In 2000, MATLAB was rewritten to use a new set of libraries for matrix manipulation, LAPACK.
MATLAB was first adopted by researchers and control engineering professionals, Little's specialty, but quickly spread to many other domains. It is now also used in education, particularly linear algebra teaching, numerical analysis, and is popular with scientists involved in image processing.