ES 100: Introduction to Engineering Use of the Computer

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ES 100 Introduction to Engineering Use of the
Computer

• Log in using your Novell password. If you do not
  know your password, immediately (now!) see Al
  Bender in room 342 upstairs.
• Open MATLAB once you have logged in.
• A quiz will be given at the end of class.

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Welcome to the New Course!

• ES 100 has been substantially revamped as part of
  an NSF grant entitled Hands-On Learning in
  Engineering
• Twelve sections of hands-on lecture/lab (Meets
  two times per week)
• Twelve sections of lab experiments and data
  collection (Meets four times during the semester)
• You need to be signed up for one section of each

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Course Information

• Attendance is required at all lecture/labs and
  all experiments and will be tracked with
  Blackboard.
• Every class will include a brief quiz on
  Blackboard near the beginning of class. The
  lowest five of these will be dropped. There will
  be no make-up for quizzes.
• There will be homework assigned for every class.
  Each of the four lab experiments will have an
  associated group assignment.

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More course information

• Grading will be as follows
• 10 Attendance (taken via Blackboard)
• 60 Quizzes (Via Blackboard, every class, lowest
  three dropped)
• 30 Lab Exercises Reports (written group
  reports)
• You will be asked from time to time to fill out a
  questionnaire. They are not mandatory and will
  not be used in grading.

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Course Objectives

• The general objectives of this course are to
• Learn how to use MATLAB as a computer programming
  tool.
• Learn how to create simple algorithms and program
  them to solve problems of engineering interest.
• Learn about the application of computers in
  laboratory experiments using LabVIEW
• Use MATLAB to manage data and compare results
  from experiments and mathematical models
• Have fun while learning this useful tool

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MATLAB characteristics

• Advantages of MATLAB for Programming
• Ease of Use
• Convenient editor with automatic formatting
• Platform Independence
• Predefined Functions
• Device-Independent Plotting
• Graphical User Interfaces
• MATLAB Compiler Available
• Same Tool for Many Uses
• Disadvantages of MATLAB for Programming
• Interpreted (can be slow), Cost

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The MATLAB Desktop
Set to where you want to store your
work (recommend U Drive)
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Make the following changes in MATLAB now

• Change the Current Directory to your U drive.
  (Click on the ... button, click on the U drive
  with your name on it, click on OK.) This is
  where you want to save your classwork because it
  can be accessed anywhere in the world. You may
  want to create a new folder named ES 100.
• Go to File, Preferences, Command Window and
  change the Numeric display to compact.

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The Command Window
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The Command Window

• This is where you can work interactively with
  MATLAB
• Some commonly used commands
• ? (up arrow) -- returns the previous command.
  Can be repeated to obtain earlier commands.
• clc clears the screen but not the memory
• whos shows list of variables and their
  properties
• clear clears the memory but not the screen

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Enter the following commands into MATLAB
gtgta1 gtgtb 3 gtgtab gtgtwhos gtgta gtgtb gtgtans gtgtc gtgta
2 gtgtc ab gtgtasqrt(b) gtgt? (up
arrow) gtgtasqrt(c) gtgta a 1 gtgtclc
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The Workspace Window

• Shows properties of variables
• Can be used to edit values of variables (double
  click to activate array editor)

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The Array Editor is invoked by double-clicking a
variable in the Workspace Browser. It allows a
user to change the values contained in a variable
or array.
The Array Editor
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The Launch Pad.
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The Command History Window
Double click on any command to repeat it in the
Command Window
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The Edit/Debug Window

• This is where you write, edit, test and debug
  your programs (script or m files)
• You will be using this window A LOT!

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Exercise using MATLABs Editor
Click on Start (in MATLAB), Desktop Tools, Editor
and enter the following Tree Measurement, dbh
Diameter at Breast Height (thats how
foresters measure trees) dbh
24 area(dbh2)pi/4 circdbhpi myStringAreaTh
e trees area is num2str(area) myStringCircT
he trees circumference is num2str(circ) disp(m
yStringArea) disp(myStringCirc) Save as tree.m,
execute tree in the Command Window, examine
output, add semicolons to tree.m in the Editor,
save, rerun in Command, examine
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MATLAB plotting

• Matlab has excellent plotting capabilities
• You can create and format a plot from the command
  widow
• You can also create and format plots from your
  program
• Unless you are creating a program, it is easier
  to format a plot in the plot window

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MATLAB plot of sin x versus x.
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Plotting Exercise
Enter the following into the Command Window gtgta
1 2 3 4 5 6 gtgtba.2 gtgtplot(a,b) gtgtbar(a,b)
See how the figure changed. gtgtscatter(a,b) See
how the figure changed.
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Exercise using Array Editor
In the Workspace window double click on the
variable a Edit the last value to be 8 Go to the
Command window and type a to show that its last
value was changed Type b to show that its
values have not changed Compare the plots without
and with b updated gtgtplot(a,b) gtgtba.2 gtgtplot(
a,b)
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The Help Browser
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The Path Tool
This is where you tell MATLAB where to look for m
files when they are named in the Command Window.
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Assignment for next lecture

• Do problems 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 yourself. The
  only way to learn how to use software is lots of
  practice.
• Write GPP/PP into a word file for chapters 1 2
• Note GPP Good Programming Practice
• PP Potential Pitfalls
• Read all of Chapter 1 and sections 2.1-2.5,2.8,
  2.9
• Be prepared for a quiz at the beginning of the
  next class, based on this assignment. This will
  also serve to take attendance.