Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course studentswill acquire, through laboratory practice, the theoretical and practical skills necessary for writing simple programs in MATLAB.
Applying knowledge and understanding::
Students must be able to analyze simple problems, identify a solution and write short programs to implement the solution on a computer.
Making judgments:
Students will need theoretical and practical knowledge to identify their own solutions to simple problems and express them through the formalisms of computer science.
Communication skills:
students must be able to present their work, documenting it clearly.
Prerequisites
None
Course unit content
The course is divided in two parts: a theoretical part (about 6 hours) and another consisting of of experimental activities (16 hours). \
The theoretical part covers the following topics:
data representation,
computer architecture.
The goal of the practical part is to teach, in laboratory classes, the basic elements of MATLAB programming, as well as the basics of MS Excel programming.
Full programme
Theoretical foundations
- Computer architecture.
- Data representation.
- Basic programming concepts
- Flow charts
MATLAB programming
- Introduction to MATLAB
- Data and variables
- Vectors and matrices
- System functions
- Control structures: if, for, while
- Defining and using functions
- Graphic functions
Bibliography
Suggested textbooks:
Holly Moore
MATLAB for engineers (4th edition)
Prentice-Hall, 2014
William J. Palm III
Introduction to MATLAB for Engineers
McGraw-Hill, 2010
The slides used during the classes and labs will be made available on the web site of the course.
Teaching methods
The theoretical part of the course will be illustrated through lectures using overhead projections. The experimental part will include practical work carried out by the students. These exercises are introduced by a short lecture in which students are introduced to the programming tools that will be used for the exercises. The exercises are carried out by groups of students (no more than two) or by individual students.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam consists of two tests:
- a written examination including 6 exercises regarding the topics dealt with during the course (MATLAB programming language, flow charts).
- a lab test in which the student is required to write a MATLAB function and a MATLAB script that invokes it according to the specifications given for the exercise.
The written test is passed if the student makes no more than one mistake.
The lab test is passed if both the function and the script are correct and produce the results indicated in the specifications.
Other information
- - -
