Programming in Matlab Basic Course

Full course description

Matlab provides a powerful environment for numerical computation, data analysis and visualisation. It is, in essence, a programming environment that has built-in primitives for common scientific tasks that in other languages, such as C or Delphi, require many operations. Examples are tasks such as matrix algebra (used in statistical analysis of data), Fourier transforms (used in signal processing) and 2D or 3D plots for visualisation of data or analysis-results. Many complete packages for the analysis of cognitive neuroimaging data (e.g. fMRI data or EEG/MEG data) are implemented in Matlab. Thus, usage of these packages requires at least a basic understanding of Matlab. Furthermore, if more advanced analysis or visualisation is needed than what is offered by existing packages, developing new functionalities in Matlab is often the most convenient option. The first part of the course will deal with how Matlab primarily represents and processes data, i.e. as matrices. Subsequently, attention is focused on the usage of the environment: the prompt; the workspace; the help options; and loading, saving and visualising data. The principles behind programming will be introduced, with particular emphasis on neuroimaging applications.