Page 20 - A Guide to MATLAB for Beginners and Experienced Users

Chapter 1

Getting Started

In this chapter, we will introduce you to the tools you need to begin using
MATLAB effectively. These include: some relevant information on computer
platforms and software versions; installation and location protocols; how to
launch the program, enter commands, use online help, and recover from hang-
ups; a roster of MATLAB’s various windows; and finally, how to quit the soft-
ware. We know you are anxious to get started using MATLAB, so we will keep
this chapter brief. After you complete it, you can go immediately to Chapter 2
to find concrete and simple instructions for the use of MATLAB. We describe
the MATLAB interface more elaborately in Chapter 3.

Platforms and Versions

It is likely that you will run MATLAB on a PC (running Windows or Linux)
or on some form of UNIX operating system. (The developers of MATLAB,
The MathWorks, Inc., are no longer supporting Macintosh. Earlier versions of
MATLAB were available for Macintosh; if you are running one of those, you
should find that our instructions for Windows platforms will suffice for your
needs.) Unlike previous versions of MATLAB, version 6 looks virtually identi-
cal on Windows and UNIX platforms. For definitiveness, we shall assume the
reader is using a PC in a Windows environment. In those very few instances
where our instructions must be tailored differently for Linux or UNIX users,
we shall point it out clearly.

➱ We use the word Windows to refer to all flavors of the Windows
operating system, that is, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000,
Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT.

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