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PHYS210: MATLAB LAB 1
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o NOTE: Solution to last lab's Maple programming exercises available at 

  ~phys210/maplesolns/myprocs4soln

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o Login and open a terminal window and have a browser pointed to 
  these notes as usual 

o Create the subdirectory 'matlab' in your home directory; we will be 
  using it extensively to copy/create Matlab code, though not today 

% cd
% mkdir matlab

o In the lab we will generally use Matlab via the GUI, but there is 
  also a command-line mode that will be useful at times, in particular
  if you want to use Malab remotely (e.g. at home via a ssh client)

o We will thus consider 3 ways to start Matlab

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1) GUI VERSION FROM DASH/LAUNCHER
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o Locate MATLAB from the Dash, drag and drop to Launcher, start it 

o Give focus to "Command Window"

o '>>' is the Matlab prompt, do not type when following along with 
  notes

o Try 

  >> 3 + 5

  or some other simple arithmetic computation

o Exit Matlab by typing 'quit' or 'exit' at the command prompt

  >> quit

  or 

  >> exit

  or by killing the window (clicking on the x in the upper left corner)

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2) GUI VERSION FROM BASH COMMAND LINE
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o In a terminal window type

% matlab

o Again, try 

  >> 3 + 5

  or some other simple arithmetic computation

o Exit Matlab per above

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3) COMMAND LINE VERSION
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o In a terminal window type the following

% matlab -nodesktop -nosplash

  The options supplied to the matlab command mean the following

     o -nodesktop  --- start command line version
     o -nosplash   --- skip the display of the Matlab info/copyright
                       window that normally appears during startup

  Will take a few seconds, and perhaps more than a few, to start, 
  can safely ignore error messages that appear

o NOTE: If command line matlab seems like it's taking an inordinately
  long time to start, i.e. it appears to "stall" after ...

     To get started, type one of these: helpwin, helpdesk, or demo.
     For product information, visit www.mathworks.com.

  ... is displayed, try typing Ctrl-C (interrupt), and the prompt should
  appear

o Once more, after the prompt has appeared, try something such as 

  >> 3 + 5

o Type 'exit' or 'quit' to exit command line Matlab

o RECOMMENDATION: Add the following alias to your ~/.aliases file

  alias mat='matlab -nodesktop -nosplash'

  so that you can simply type 'mat' at the bash command line to 
  start command line Matlab

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o Restart GUI version of Matlab

o Matlab commands that we are typing are available via Syllabus, Chap 1 
  Calcs, Chap 2 Calcs (also course notes page), or directly via

  http://laplace.physics.ubc.ca/210/Doc/matlab/matlab1.html
  http://laplace.physics.ubc.ca/210/Doc/matlab/matlab2.html

o Type along ... 

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OCTAVE

o At bash command line type

% octave

o Try executing a few of the Matlab commands we have tried 

o Type 'quit' or 'exit' to leave

o NOTE: Octave is available for Linux and Mac OS, can use it for your 
  homework and/or projects, but PLEASE check with me first if you 
  intend to do so!
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EXERCISE

o Add alias 'mat' as defined above to your ~/.aliases file

o Test by starting new terminal session and typing  ...

% mat

  ... to ensure that command line Matlab *does* start