As described on The MathWorks’ web page MATLAB “integrates mathematical computing visualization and a powerful language to provide a flexible environment for technical computing”. The core of the package is the high level language providing scientists and engineers with the power to tackle all kinds of problems involving numerical computation and visualisation. MATLAB continues to be used in a wide variety of contexts from an invaluable aid to teaching and learning in Universities through to its application in problems at the cutting edge of many areas of research. An important factor in its success is the extensible nature of the language enabling users to develop libraries of functions for use in their own applications. Furthermore recent versions of the software have allowed user-developed functions to make use of fully featured Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).
