Matlab: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving 3rd Edition

This is an outstanding introduction to Matlab, and the examples work equally well with the GNU free version. Hats off to Amazon and the publisher for delivering this fine and current text at under $40 US new including web resources.There are numerous, out of date, but well written "specialty" Matlab books-- Matlab for scientists, Matlab for Chemists, Matlab for Physicists, Matlab for Engineers, Matlab for Neurologists... etc. These almost all go for between $80 and $200+ US! This book is hands down FAR BETTER as both an intro and a reference. You HAVE to run the examples as the solutions are not always given, but Matlab itself will let you know how you did if you got the code right.For a very recent book, the code runs quite well, I'd put it at about 95%+. Many books like this, when recently published, are rushed to press and the code is, well, frankly, garbage! The neat thing is that since this is a third edition, the code has been vetted many times and is far more bulletproof than the normal up to date, current version text.How does it compare to the Matlab documentation? No contest! The official documentation gives volumes (libraries) on functions, etc. but very few good, basic examples of best practices. This author really knows her stuff, and will save you a ton on bugs, even if you just get this as a reference. Granted, the focus of the examples is Engineering, but I also work in medical and robotics EE and DSLs, and the examples are easily transportable to any other area. It is pretty clear that although the author publishes in advanced Engineering, she also teaches undergrads, so the book is kept intelligible without the usual "show off" style that makes many texts tough to learn from. This book is ideal for autodidacts and self study as well as reference due to that pedagogy.Given the maturity of Matlab libraries now, there are tons of templates for every possible application imaginable, from macros and plug ins to complete APIs! So you really need best programming and problem solving practices, not 800 pages of examples for $200 using your own field's parameters and quantities-- let your plug ins and libraries do that (many of them are free now, especially with the GNU version of Matlab). I guess what I'm saying is, if you're considering spending $100 plus on a specialty Matlab book vs this-- get this instead, then use the web to find your perfect app/ specialty plug in! With this as a foundation, you don't have to get "Matlab for Signal Processing" because the plug ins are much more specific than even that "specialty" book, and give you a choice of analog, digital, time vs. frequency, RF specific, etc., for example.Highly recommended. Does not require previous programming knowledge, but a foundation understanding (basic undergrad) of how math relates to computing (ie. linear algebraic conversion of formulas to numeric methods via vectors and matrices) is helpful. Best brush up would be in what is now called "discrete" math-- or all the numeric methods that have now been removed from the HS curriculum. Even knowing one very simple (even scripting) language also will help if you're tackling this right out of HS. You don't have to be a Java, C++, Python etc. jock to get this, and even php or javascript will help. If you've used an IDE or SDK before to debug any program, the Matlab interface will be a natural, and seem very intuitive. Plug ins are now available for popular languages that mimic Matlab, like numPy for Python, and are often used for building apps around the calculations or results, so this text also will help even if you intend to move on to languages with huge libraries like Java or Python.Even if you go into research with a heavier emphasis on stats, for example, you'll probably prefer a language like R, but this text, and Matlab, will help with special functions and the interface even if you do end up doing most of your work in R. The most recent versions of both R and Matlab share (to put it politically) a lot of features, so you won't go wrong with this text even if you're combining with studying or using R. When you move from research to applications, design and engineering move quickly to Matlab.Library Picks reviews only for the benefit of Amazon shoppers and has nothing to do with Amazon, the authors, manufacturers or publishers of the items we review. We always buy the items we review for the sake of objectivity, and although we search for gems, are not shy about trashing an item if it's a waste of time or money for Amazon shoppers. If the reviewer identifies herself, her job or her field, it is only as a point of reference to help you gauge the background and any biases.

This is a great book to learn Matlab. I only wish I had attended a school that taught a Matlab programming course using this book. There are basically three ways to learn Matlab. 1. Stumble around in the massive but useful help screens in Matlab. 2. Attend a college or other training class that often costs hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend. Then, there's the less traveled method: buy this book and teach yourself. That's the method I'm currently using, and it's improved my knowledge of Matlab tremendously. I think this book is a worthwhile update to the 2nd edition, too. I considered purchasing the 2nd edition and even read some the actual book in a bookstore, imagine that. However, upon consideration of the 3rd edition, I think the 3rd edition takes the contents of the 2nd edition and organizes it better so that more relevant topics are kept together. It also has a newly added appendix that shows almost, if not all, the built-in functions in Matlab. That's a handy thing to have when programming, because it allows you to skim the functions you want and use them appropriately due to a nice, short description that's included with each function. Also, the new edition covers vectors and matrices with matrix multiplication much earlier, now in chapter 2. So, it affords a better context to later material. Overall, if you're looking for a great basic reference and an actual teaching guide to using Matlab, go for this book. It will not disappoint. It's much more than a rehash of the massive Matlab help screen with a few simple exercises thrown in the back of each chapter, like so many books of this type are. This is an actual programming guide with tips, hints, and corrections of common errors beginning programmers often make, with end of chapter problems that cover concepts discussed in the chapters to teach the reader Matlab by doing! I strongly recommend this outstanding Matlab programming book, and it's so cheap, too.

It is, indeed, an Introduction and it is practical as claimed - four stars. It's well organized and there is an amazing amount of material in the book. It's broad is scope. Anyone who has programmed in any language along the way will be up and running in a short time with this book as a reference and teaching tool - NICE. It does a really good job in those areas. A lot of thought obviously went into the selection and sequencing of subject material. Seems to achieve broad range of subjects by skillfully managing the level of detail and diversity of applications examples to prevent getting bogged down in individual areas and not achieving its overall objective. Well Done! With this book as background, the student can pick up with the native MATLAB Document "Docs" form "help" and get along just fine.In my opinion, there is a glitch in the printing style of the book as far as code examples provided. They are printed in a very fine-line font style that is a hard to read and tiring on the eyes if you're really studying the material. The font contrast goes way down compared to ordinary text font. The publisher used light blue, olive and grey backgrounds for code examples, I guess to try to help the low-contrast font issue. Too bad. I suspect they tried to use the built-in MATLAB capability to easily export code out of the Command Window etc. directly into an external document. All the other text in the book is perfectly okay. Next printing will be a chance to fix this.