MATLAB
According to the MathWorks, MATLAB is “a high-level language and interactive environment that enables you to perform computationally intensive tasks faster than with traditional programming languages such as C, C++, and Fortran.”
MATLAB is available on the math department's Linux systems by
typing matlab at a shell prompt, by choosing MATLAB
from the applications menu (on Linux workstations), or by
double-clicking the MATLAB application on Mac OS X or
Windows.
The default version of MATLAB as of 2012 August 20 is 2012a using the TAH license. For Macs with PowerPC processors, R2008b remains the last version of MATLAB that will run and will remain available until we retire those machines or the license is no longer available from CIS's license server.
The Mathworks provides some resource pages with links to videos, documentation, and so on for instructors and researchers and students.
Classroom vs. Research vs. TAH Licenses
Beginning in January, 2010, Mudd has a “Total Academic Headcount” site license for MATLAB and a set of toolboxes, replacing the old classroom and research licenses. The TAH toolbox set is a superset of the both the classroom- and research-license toolbox sets
Each license has a slightly different set of packages (“Toolboxes”) installed, as shown in the following table:
| Toolbox/Component | TAH | Research | Classroom | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011a | 2010a | 2010b | |||
| Bioinformatics | X | X | X | ||
| Communications | X | X | X | X | |
| Control System | X | X | X | X | |
| Curve Fitting | X | X | X | X | |
| Data Acquisition | X | X | X | ||
| DSP System | X | ||||
| Embedded Coder | X | ||||
| Fuzzy Logic | X | X | X | X | |
| Image Acquisition | X | ||||
| Image Processing | X | X | X | X | X |
| Instrument Control | X | X | X | ||
| MATLAB (itself) | X | X | X | X | X |
| MATLAB Coder | X | ||||
| MATLAB Compiler | X | X | X | X | X |
| Neural Network | X | X | X | X | X |
| Optimization | X | X | X | X | X |
| Parallel Computing | X | ||||
| Partial Differential Equation | X | X | X | X | X |
| Real-Time Windows Target | X | X | X | ||
| Real-Time Workshop | X | X | X | X | |
| Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder | X | X | |||
| Signal Processing Blockset | X | X | |||
| Signal Processing Toolbox | X | X | X | X | X |
| SimMechanics | X | X | X | ||
| Simscape | X | X | X | ||
| Simulink | X | X | X | X | X |
| Simulink Coder | X | ||||
| Simulink Control Design | X | X | X | X | |
| Spline | X | X | Inc. in Curve Fitting | X | |
| Stateflow | X | X | X | X | |
| Statistics | X | X | X | X | X |
| Symbolic Math | X | X | X | X | X |
| System Identification | X | X | X | X | X |
| Wavelet | X | X | X | X | X |
Running MATLAB on Departmental Machines
In general, we try to have the default version of MATLAB be the most recent version available from the MathWorks.
On the Linux systems, you can run MATLAB by typing
matlab at a shell prompt or by choosing a menu
item.
On Mac OS X or Windows machines, you can find the MATLAB
launcher in the /Applications folder or Start
menu.
Older Versions of MATLAB on Linux Systems
We maintain several older versions of MATLAB on our Linux systems, in case your code doesn't run on the newer version and you can't take the time to update it. These older versions will remain for “a while”, where “a while” comes down to when disk space on the partition is getting tight or when Mudd's license server no longer allows an older version to run, whichever comes first.
To run an older version of MATLAB, you can either modify your
PATH to include the directory the older version is
installed in before the standard path or you can type the
entire path to the executable. Note that your path is set
dynamically based on the machine that you connect to, so you would
want to make any changes in shell start-up files that run after
your initial environment is set up.
All MATLAB installs can be found in
/shared/local/sw/matlab, so to run one of the other
versions, you'll have to type
/shared/local/sw/matlab/version_name/bin/matlab.
Running MATLAB on Your Own Machine
Under the TAH license, faculty, staff, and current students may run MATLAB on college-owned and personal machines. There is a license server for use by on-campus desktop machines; laptops and home machines can use a passcode to download and install the software. (For on-campus users, we mirror the MATLAB software.)
Students should contact CIS for the passcode and other
information they will need to install MATLAB. You will have to
create an account at the
MathWorks site using a college e-mail address
(@.*hmc.edu) to complete the activation step.
Math faculty and staff can request the passcode and other
information from the department's system administrator or CIS.
For laptop installations you make yourself or for home
installation, you will need to create an account
at the MathWorks site
using a college e-mail address (@.*hmc.edu) to
complete the activation step.
