This book is an introduction to MATLAB(r) as a technical programming language. It is designed to teach students how to write clean, efficient, and documented MATLAB(r) programs. Author Stephen Chapman emphasizes top-down programming methodology and encourages students to think about the proper design of a program before beginning to code. The book is carefully structured to provide the students with special boxes that highlight good programming practices, boxes that detail common pitfalls in MATLAB(r) programming, and numerous programming exercises and examples. Students are taught how to use MATLAB(r) as a programming language and how to locate any desired function with MATLAB(r)'s extensive on-line help facilities.