This course is intended as an introduction to solving problems by coding solutions in the MATLAB

programming environment. It assumes no prior knowledge of programming or coding skills. Students will

develop a beginner’s skill level for deriving algorithms. This will be complemented by them learning how to

use the MATLAB language and integrated development environment in concert to code these algorithms as

functions. The development of the students’ skills and knowledge base will be done in the context of them

encoding real world data; processing the data with respect to a given problem; and outputting a correct

answer in the appropriate format.

The course begins with an introduction to the concepts of data encoding and the methodology of writing

functions. There is also a good deal of time spent on getting the students familiar with the programming and

evaluation environments. From that foundation, students are exposed to variables, functions, and scope. The

course then expands the students’ abilities to deal with data collections of vectors and arrays. Next, they

learn the power of conditional and iteration statements. They then use these abilities to deal with the more

complex data collections of cell arrays, spreadsheets, text files, structures, directory information and images.

The course also provides instruction on how to make plots of the results of their data analyses.