LABORATORY FOR PROGRAMMING
Learning outcomes of the course unit
Knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course studentswill acquire, through laboratory practice, the theoretical and practical skills necessary for writing simple programs in MATLAB.
Applying knowledge and understanding::
Students must be able to analyze simple problems, identify a solution and write short programs to implement the solution on a computer.
Making judgments:
Students will need theoretical and practical knowledge to identify their own solutions to simple problems and express them through the formalisms of computer science.
Communication skills:
students must be able to present their work, documenting it clearly.
Prerequisites
None
Course contents summary
The course is divided in two parts: a theoretical part (about 6 hours) and another consisting of of experimental activities (16 hours). \
The theoretical part covers the following topics:
data representation,
computer architecture.
The goal of the practical part is to teach, in laboratory classes, the basic elements of MATLAB programming, as well as the basics of MS Excel programming.
Course contents
Theoretical foundations
- Computer architecture.
- Data representation.
- Basic programming concepts .
MATLAB programming
- Introduction to MATLAB
- Data and variables
- Vectors and matrices
- System functions
- Control structures: if, for, while
- Defining and using functions
- Graphic functions
Recommended readings
Suggested textbooks:
Holly Moore
MATLAB for engineers (4th edition)
Prentice-Hall, 2014
William J. Palm III
Introduction to MATLAB for Engineers
McGraw-Hill, 2010
The slides used during the classes and labs will be made available on the web site of the course.
Teaching methods
The theoretical part of the course will be illustrated through lectures using overhead projections. The experimental part will include practical work carried out by the students. These exercises are introduced by a short lecture in which students are introduced to the programming tools that will be used for the exercises. The exercises are carried out by groups of students (no more than two) or by individual students.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam consists of drafting a report on laboratory activities and of a written examination based on 5 exercises, one of which requires writing a short function in MATLAB.
The written test is passed if the exercise the function is solved properly and is no more than one error is made in the other 4 exercises. In case of an error in the exercise on the function or in one or two of the other exercises the student will undergo an oral test.
In the presence of more errors the exam is failed.
