Chapter 04

Programming with MATLAB

1
 Algorithms

Algorithm: an ordered sequence of precisely defined

instructions that performs some task in a finite amount of
time.
Ordered means that the instructions can be numbered, but
an algorithm must have the ability to alter the order of its
instructions using a control structure.

2
 Control Structures

There are three categories of algorithmic operations:

Sequential operations: Instructions executed in order.
Conditional operations: Control structures that first ask a question
to be answered with a true/false answer and then select the next
instruction based on the answer.
Iterative operations (loops): Control structures that repeat the
execution of a block of instructions.

3
 Structured Programming

A technique for designing programs in which a

hierarchy of modules is used.

4
 Advantages of Structured Programming 1

1. Structured programs are easier to write because the

programmer can study the overall problem first and then
deal with the details later.

2. Modules (functions) written for one application can be

used for other applications (this is called reusable code).

3. Structured programs are easier to debug because each

module is designed to perform just one task and thus it
can be tested separately from the other modules.

5
 Advantages of Structured Programming 2

4. Structured programming is effective in a teamwork

environment because several people can work on a
common program, each person developing one or more
modules.

5. Structured programs are easier to understand and

modify, especially if meaningful names are chosen for
the modules and if the documentation clearly identifies
the module’s task.

6
Procedure Oriented Programming
How to get the task done

7
Object Oriented Programming
Encapsulation/ Class
Main focus: Data security

8
 Steps for Developing a Computer
Solution 1

1. State the problem concisely.

2. Specify the data to be used by the program. This is the

“input.”

3. Specify the information to be generated by the program.

This is the “output.”

4. Work through the solution steps by hand or with a

calculator; use a simpler set of data if necessary.

9
 Steps for Developing a Computer
Solution 2

5. Write and run the program.

6. Check the output of the program with your hand

solution.

7. Run the program with your input data and perform a

reality check on the output.

8. If you will use the program as a general tool in the

future, test it by running it for a range of reasonable
data values; perform a reality check on the results.

10
 Effective documentation

1. Proper selection of variable names to reflect the quantities

they represent.

2. Use of comments within the program.

3. Use of structure charts.

4. Use of flowcharts.

5. A verbal description of the program, often in pseudocode.

11
 Documenting with Charts

Two types of charts aid in developing structured programs

and in documenting them.

These are structure charts and flowcharts.

A structure chart is a graphical description showing how the

different parts of the program are connected together.

12
Structure Chart of a Game Program

13
 Use of Flowcharts

Flowcharts are useful for developing and documenting

programs that contain conditional statements, because
they can display the various paths (called “branches”) that
a program can take, depending on how the conditional
statements are executed.

14
Flowchart representation of the if statement

15
 Documenting with Pseudocode

We can document with pseudocode, in which natural

language and mathematical expressions are used to
construct statements that look like computer statements but
without detailed syntax.

Each pseudocode instruction may be numbered, but should

be unambiguous and computable.

16
 Example; Iterative Operations

Determine how many terms are required for the sum of the series
10𝑘^2−4𝑘+2,𝑘=1,2,3,...to exceed 20,000. What is the sum for this many terms?
1. Initialize the total to zero.
2. Initialize the counter to zero.
3. While the total is less than 20,000 compute the total.
3.1 Increment the counter by 1.
𝑘=𝑘+1
3.2 Update the total.
total = 10∗𝑘^2−4∗𝑘+2+ total
4. Display the current value of the counter.
5. Display the value of the total.
6. Stop.

17
 total = 0;
1. Initialize the total to zero.
2. Initialize the counter to zero. k = 0;
3. While the total is less than 20,000 while total < 2e+4
compute the total. k = k+1;
3.1 Increment the counter by 1.
total = 10*k^2 − 4*k + 2 + total;
𝑘=𝑘+1
3.2 Update the total. end
total = 10∗𝑘^2−4∗𝑘+2+ total disp(’The number of terms is:’)
4. Display the current value of the counter. disp(k)
5. Display the value of the total.
6. Stop. disp(’The sum is:’)
disp(total)
end

18
 Finding Bugs
Debugging a program is the process of finding and
removing the “bugs,” or errors, in a program. Such errors
usually fall into one of the following categories.

1. Syntax errors such as omitting a parenthesis or comma, or

spelling a command name incorrectly. MATLAB usually
detects the more obvious errors and displays a message
describing the error and its location.

2. Errors due to an incorrect mathematical procedure. These

are called runtime errors. They do not necessarily occur
every time the program is executed; their occurrence often
depends on the particular input data. A common example is
division by zero.

19
 Locating Runtime Errors 1

To locate a runtime error, try the following:

1. Always test your program with a simple version of the

problem, whose answers can be checked by hand
calculations.

2. Display any intermediate calculations by removing

semicolons at the end of statements.

20
 Locating Runtime Errors 2

3. To test user-defined functions, try commenting out the

function line and running the file as a script.

4. Use the debugging features of the Editor/Debugger.

21
 Development of Large Programs 1

1. Writing and testing of individual modules (the unit-testing

phase).
2. Writing of the top-level program that uses the modules
(the build phase). Not all modules are included in the
initial testing. As the build proceeds, more modules are
included.

22
 Development of Large Programs 2

3. Testing of the first complete program (the alpha release

phase). This is usually done only in-house by technical
people closely involved with the program development.
There might be several alpha releases as bugs are
discovered and removed.
4. Testing of the final alpha release by in-house personnel
and by familiar and trusted outside users, who often
must sign a confidentiality agreement. This is the beta
release phase, and there might be several beta releases.

23
 Relational Operators 1

Operator Meaning
< Less than.
<= Less than or equal to.
> Greater than.
>= Greater than or equal to.
== Equal to.
~= Not equal to.

24
 Relational Operators 2

For example, suppose that x = [6,3,9] and y =

[14,2,9]. The following MATLAB session shows some
examples.
>>z = (x < y)
z =
1 0 0
>>z = (x ~= y)
z =
1 1 0
>>z = (x > 8)
z =
0 0 1

25
 Relational Operators 3

The relational operators can be used for array addressing.

For example, with x = [6,3,9] and y = [14,2,9], typing
z = x(x<y)

finds all the elements in x that are less than the corresponding
elements in y. The result is z = 6.

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 Relational Operators 4

The arithmetic operators +, −, *, /, and have precedence

vackslash

over the relational operators. Thus, the statement

z = 5 > 2 + 7

is equivalent to
z = 5 >(2+7)
and returns the result z = 0.

We can use parentheses to change the order of precedence;

for example, z = (5 > 2) + 7 evaluates to z = 8.

27
 The logical Class 1

When the relational operators are used, such as

x = (5 > 2)
they create a logical variable, in this case, x.

Logical is a first-class data type and a MATLAB class, and

so logical is equivalent to other first-class types such as
character and cell arrays.
Logical variables may have only the values 1 (true) and 0
(false).

28
 The logical Class 2

Just because an array contains only 0s and 1s, however, it is not

necessarily a logical array. For example, in the following session k and
w appear the same, but k is a logical array and w is a numeric array,
and thus an error message is issued.
>>x = −2:2; k = (abs(x)>1)
k =
1 0 0 0 1
>>z = x(k)
z =
−2 2
>>w = [1,0,0,0,1]; v = x(w)
??? Subscript indices must either be real
positive... integers or logicals.
29
 Accessing Arrays Using Logical Arrays 1

When a logical array is used to address another

array, it extracts from that array the elements in the
locations where the logical array has 1s.
So typing A(B), where B is a logical array of the
same size as A, returns the values of A at the
indices where B is 1.

30
 Accessing Arrays Using Logical Arrays 2

Specifying array subscripts with logical arrays

extracts the elements that correspond to the true
(1) elements in the logical array.
Given A =[5,6,7;8,9,10;11,12,13] and B =
logical(eye(3)), we can extract the diagonal
elements of A by typing C = A(B) to obtain C =
[5;9;13].

31
If x=[-1,13,5,-14] and y=[-9,13,0,4], what will be the result of the
~(y>x).

a) 0 1 1 0
b) 1 0 1 1
c) 1 1 1 0
d) 1 0 0 1

32
 Logical Operators 1

Operator Name Definition

~ NOT ~A returns an array the same dimension as A; the
new array has ones where A is zero and zeros
where A is nonzero
& AND A & B returns an array the same dimension as A
and B; the new array has ones where both A and
B have nonzero elements and zeros where either
A or B is zero.
| OR A | B returns an array the same dimension as A
and B; the new array has ones where at least one
element in A or B is nonzero and zeros where A
and B are both zero.

33
 Logical Operators 2

Operator Name Definition

&& Short-Circuit AND Operator for scalar logical
expressions. A && B returns true if
both A and B evaluate to true, and
false if they do not.
|| Short-Circuit OR Operator for scalar logical
expressions. A || B returns true if
either A or B or both evaluate to true,
and false if they do not.

34
Order of Precedence for Operator Types

Precedence Operator type

First Parentheses; evaluated starting with the

innermost pair.

Second Arithmetic operators and logical NOT (~);

evaluated from left to right.

Third Relational operators; evaluated from left to right.

Fourth Logical AND.

Fifth Logical OR.

35
 Logical Functions 1

Logical function Definition

all(x) Returns a scalar, which is 1 if all the elements in the vector x
are nonzero and 0 otherwise.
all(A) Returns a row vector having the same number of columns as
the matrix A and containing ones and zeros, depending on
whether or not the corresponding column of A has all nonzero
elements.
any(x) Returns a scalar, which is 1 if any of the elements in the
vector x is nonzero and 0 otherwise.
any(A) Returns a row vector having the same number of columns as
A and containing ones and zeros, depending on whether or
not the corresponding column of the matrix A contains any
nonzero elements.
finite(A) Returns an array of the same dimension as A with ones where
the elements of A are finite and zeros elsewhere.

36
 Logical Functions 2

Logical function Definition

ischar(A) Returns a 1 if A is a character array and 0
otherwise.
isempty(A) Returns a 1 if A is an empty matrix and 0
otherwise.
isinf(A) Returns an array of the same dimension as A, with
ones where A has ‘inf’ and zeros elsewhere.
isnan(A) Returns an array of the same dimension as A with
ones where A has ‘NaN’ and zeros elsewhere.
(‘NaN’ stands for “not a number,” which means an
undefined result.)

37
 Logical Functions 3

isnumeric(A) Returns a 1 if A is a numeric array and 0

otherwise.
isreal(A) Returns a 1 if A has no elements with
imaginary parts and 0 otherwise.
logical(A) Converts the elements of the array A into
logical values.
xor(A,B) Returns an array the same dimension as A and
B; the new array has ones where either A or B
is nonzero, but not both, and zeros where A
and B are either both nonzero or both zero.

38
 The find Function

find(A) Computes an array containing

the indices of the nonzero
elements of the array A.
[u,v,w] = find(A) Computes the arrays u and v
containing the row and column
indices of the nonzero elements
of the array A and computes the
array w containing the values of
the nonzero elements. The array
w may be omitted.

39
 Logical Operators and the find Function 1

Consider the session

>>x = [5, −3, 0, 0, 8];y = [2, 4, 0, 5, 7];

>>z = find(x&y)
z =
1 2 5

Note that the find function returns the indices, and not the
values.

40
 Logical Operators and the find Function 2

Note that the find function returns the indices, and not the
values.
In the following session, note the difference between the
result obtained by y(x&y) and the result obtained by
find(x&y) in the previous slide.
>>x = [5, −3, 0, 0, 8];y = [2, 4, 0, 5, 7];
>>values = y(x&y)
values =
2 4 7
>>how_many = length(values)
how_many =
3
41
 The if Statement

The if statement’s basic form is

if logical expression

statements
end
Every if statement must have an accompanying end
statement. The end statement marks the end of the
statements that are to be executed if the logical expression
is true.

42
 The else Statement

The basic structure for the use of the else statement is

if logical expression

statement group 1
else

statement group 2
end

43
yourNumber = input('Enter a number: ');
if yourNumber < 0
disp('The number is negative')
end
if yourNumber >= 0
disp('the number is either zero or positive')
end

44
Flowchart of the else Structure

45
 The Logical Expression in the else
Structure 1

The logical expression may be an array. If so, the test

returns a value of true only if all the elements of the logical
expression are true!

46
 The Logical Expression in the else
Structure 2

For example, if we fail to recognize how the test works, the

following statements do not perform the way we might expect.
x = [4, −9,25];
if x < 0
disp(’Some of the elements of x are
negative.’)
else
y = sqrt(x)
end
When this program is run it gives the result
y =
2 0 + 3.000i 5

47
 The Logical Expression in the else
Structure 3

Instead, consider what happens if we test for x positive.

x = [4, −9,25];
if x >= 0
y = sqrt(x)
else
disp(’Some of the elements of x are negative.’)
end
When executed, it produces the following message:
Some of the elements of x are negative.
The test if x < 0 is false, and the test if x >= 0 also returns a false value
because x >= 0 returns the vector [1,0,1].

48
 Making Statements Concise

if logical expression 1

if logical expression 2

statements

end

end

can be replaced with the more concise program

if logical expression 1 & logical expression 2

statements

end

49
 The elseif Statement

The general form of the if statement is

if logical expression 1
statement group 1
elseif logical expression 2
statement group 2
else
statement group 3
end

The else and elseif statements may be omitted if not required.

However, if both are used, the else statement must come after the
elseif statement to take care of all conditions that might be
unaccounted for.
50
a=1; b=1; c=3
if c==2
disp('C=2’)
elseif a~=c
disp('a~=c') % Statement 2
elseif a~=c && b~=c
disp('a&b~=c') % Statement 3
end

51
 Flowchart for the General
if-elseif-else Structure

Access the text alternative for slide images.

52
 Example of an if-elseif-else
Structure
For example, suppose that y = log(x) for x > 10, y
=sqrt(x) for 0 <= x <= 10, and y = exp(x) − 1 for
x < 0. The following statements will compute y if x already
has a scalar value.
if x > 10
y = log(x)
elseif x > 0
y = sqrt(x)
else
y = exp(x) − 1
end
53
 Strings and Conditional Statements 1

A string is a variable that contains characters. Strings are

useful for creating input prompts and messages and for
storing and operating on data such as names and
addresses.
To create a string variable, enclose the characters in single
quotes. For example, the string variable name is created as
follows:
>>name = ‘Leslie Student’
name =
Leslie Student

54
 Strings and Conditional Statements 2

The following string, number, is not the same as the

variable number created by typing number = 123.
>>number = ‘123’
number =
123

55
 Strings and Conditional Statements 3

The following prompt program uses the isempty(x)

function, which returns a 1 if the array x is empty and 0
otherwise.
It also uses the input function, whose syntax is
x = input(‘prompt’, ‘string’)

This function displays the string prompt on the screen,

waits for input from the keyboard, and returns the entered
value in the string variable x.

The function returns an empty matrix if you press the Enter

key without typing anything.

56
 Strings and Conditional Statements 4

The following prompt program is a script file that allows the

user to answer Yes by typing either Y or y or by pressing
the Enter key. Any other response is treated as a No
answer.
response = input(‘Do you want to continue?
Y/N [Y]: ’,‘s’);
if (isempty(response))|(response ==
‘Y’)|(response == ‘y’)
response = ‘Y’
else
response = ‘N’
end
57
 for Loops

A simple example of a for loop is

for k = 5:10:35
x = k^2
end
The loop variable k is initially assigned the value 5, and x
is calculated from x = k^2. Each successive pass through
the loop increments k by 10 and calculates x until k
exceeds 35. Thus k takes on the values 5, 15, 25, and 35,
and x takes on the values 25, 225, 625, and 1225. The
program then continues to execute any statements
following the end statement.

58
Flowchart of a for Loop

Access the text alternative for slide images.

59
 Loop Variable Expression 1

Note the following rules when using for loops with the loop variable
expression k = m:s:n:

• The step value s may be negative.

Example: k = 10: −2:4 produces k = 10, 8, 6, 4.

• If s is omitted, the step value defaults to one.

• If s is positive, the loop will not be executed if m is greater than n.

• If s is negative, the loop will not be executed if m is less than n.

• If m equals n, the loop will be executed only once.

• If the step value s is not an integer, round-off errors can cause the
loop to execute a different number of passes than intended.

60
 Loop Variable Expression 2

For example, the following code uses a continue statement to avoid

computing the logarithm of a negative number.
x = [10,1000,−10,100];
y = NaN*x;
for k = 1:length(x)
if x(k) < 0
continue
end
y(k) = log10(x(k));
end
y
The result is y = 1, 3, NaN, 2.

61
 Using a Logical Array as a Mask

We can often avoid the use of loops and branching and thus create
simpler and faster programs by using a logical array as a mask that
selects elements of another array. Any elements not selected will
remain unchanged.

The following session creates the logical array C from the numeric array
A given previously.

>>A = [0, −1, 4; 9, −14, 25; −34, 49, 64];

>>C = (A >= 0);

The result is
1 0 1
C = 1 0 1
0 1 1

62
 Example of the Mask Technique

We can use this mask technique to compute the square

root of only those elements of A given in the previous
program that are no less than 0 and add 50 to those
elements that are negative. The program is
A = [0, −1, 4; 9, − 4, 25; −34, 49, 64];
C = (A >= 0);
A(C) = sqrt(A(C))
A(~C) = A(~C) + 50

63
 while Loops

The while loop is used when the looping process terminates

because a specified condition is satisfied, and thus the number
of passes is not known in advance. A simple example of a while
loop is
x = 5;

while x < 25

disp(x)

x = 2*x − 1;

end

The results displayed by the disp statement are 5, 9, and 17.

64
 The Typical Structure of a while Loop

while logical expression

statements
end
For the while loop to function properly, the following
two conditions must occur:
1. The loop variable must have a value before the while
statement is executed.
2. The loop variable must be changed somehow by the
statements.

65
Flowchart of the while Loop

66
 The switch Structure

The switch structure provides an alternative to using the

if, elseif, and else commands.Anything programmed
using switch can also be programmed using if
structures.
However, for some applications the switch structure is
more readable than code using the if structure.

67
 Syntax of the switch Structure

switch input expression (can be a scalar or string).

case value1
statement group 1
case value2
statement group 2
.
.
.
otherwise
statement group n
end

68
 Example of the switch Structure

The following switch block displays the point on the compass

that corresponds to that angle.
switch angle
case 45
disp(‘Northeast’)
case 135
disp(‘Southeast’)
case 225
disp(‘Southwest’)
case 315
disp(‘Northwest’)
otherwise
disp(‘Direction Unknown’)
end
69