MATLAB: About

MATLAB

MATLAB is a property programming language created in 1984 by MathWorks. MATLAB is used heavily by engineers and scientists. Among its main uses include:

  • numerical computing
  • data analysis
  • matrix manipulations
  • plotting functions and data
  • creating models and applications
  • implementation of algorithms
  • creation of user interfaces,
  • interfacing with other programming languages, e.g. C, C++, Java, Python, Fortran.

It was conceived by Cleve Moler in the 1970s. Moler was the Chair of the Computer Science Department at the University of New Mexico. He received his bachelor's degree from California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from Stanford University, both in mathematics. In 1984, he co-founded MathWorks with Jack Little to commercialize this program. He has also taught for the University of Michigan and Stanford University as well as worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Intel Hypercube. In 2012, the IEEE Computer Society named Cleve the recipient of the 2012 Computer Pioneer Award and in 2017 he was made Fellow of the Computer History Museum.