TABLE OF CONTENTS The objectives of this chapter are to introduce you to the concept of program design and to the concept of a structure plan (pseudocode) as a means of designing the logic of a program.
This chapter provides an introduction to the design of computer programs. The top-down design process is elaborated to help you think about the development of good problem-solving strategies as they relate to the design of procedures to use software like MATLAB. We will consider the design of your own toolbox to be included among the toolboxes already available with your version of MATLAB, e.g. SIMULINK, the Symbolics toolbox, and the Controls toolbox. This is a big advantage of MATLAB (and tools like this software); it allows you to customize your working environment to meet your own needs. It is not only the mathematics handbook of today's student, engineer and scientist, it is also a useful environment to develop software tools that go beyond any handbook to help you to solve relatively complicated mathematical problems. Your ability to use the complete power of MATLAB is limited only by your experience and educational background. The further you grow in your knowledge, you will more productively use your imagination and creative abilities to develop methods that tap the depths of this tool to help you solve technical problems. The problems could be problems assigned in course work, in undergraduate research, engineering and design projects, as well as (after graduation) on the job.
In the first part of this...
