Introduction

Notes on the Exercises

Our plagiarism check found students who had very similar code:
Programming in MATLAB

Gertjan van den Burg

Week

Y
Make sure to write your code yourself!
/

Introduction Introduction
Recap Last Week Todays Topics

What we will do today:

Last week we learned:
I Present some code tips based on your programs for the
I Basics of the MATLAB language (variables, conditionals,
exercises
loops, vectors, and functions)
I Learn how to use matrices in MATLAB
I Basic types in MATLAB
I Learn about plotting in MATLAB
I How to use the MATLAB debugger
I Learn about le I/O in MATLAB
I How unit testing can help to avoid bugs
I Learn about memory and how to use it efciently in
MATLAB
Are there any questions about the material from last week?
I Learn how to prole and speed up our code

/ /

Coding Tips Coding Tips

Indentation Missing end keyword

Indentation matters for code readability

Using end to close a function helps readability
for i=1:n
for j=1:n function [c] = first_function(a)
if i > j c = a + increment(a)
a = a + 1
end function [a] = increment(a)
end a = a + 1;
end

function [c] = first_function(a)

for i=1:n c = a + increment(a)
for j=1:n end
if i > j
a = a + 1 function [a] = increment(a)
end a = a + 1;
end end
end

/ 6/
Coding Tips Coding Tips
Over-commenting Overloading builtin

There is a point where too many comments reduce the Spotted this type of code a few times in Sum Divisors:
readability of your code: sum = 0;
for i=1:n
function [S] = my_sum(x) sum = sum + i;
% MY_SUM Sum numbers in a vector end
% [S] = my_sum(x) sums all elements in x

S = 0; % Set the starting value to zero

But this can become problematic when you need to use sum as a
for i=1:numel(x) % iterate over 1 to length of x function:
S = S + x(i) % add the i th element to S
end % close the for loop sum = 0;
end % close the function for i=1:n
sum = sum + sum(1:i);
Try to nd a balance. end

/ 8/

Coding Tips Coding Tips

Empty if statements Writing Help text

Autolab checks for two things in your help text:

I Function name in capital letters
These are equivalent and valid MATLAB:
I Function signature included
if k > 0 if k > 0
This is done to encourage you to write help text in a specic
res = res + k; res = res + k;
else end format used for MATLAB documentation.
end
For example, the builtin function numel:
As are these:
function [N] = numel(A)
if k > 0 if k <= 0 % NUMEL Number of elements in an array or subscripted
else res = res + k; % array expression.
res = res + k; end % [N] = numel(A) returns the number of elements, N,
end % in array A, equivalent to PROD(SIZE(A)).
%
% See also size, prod, subsref.
N = prod(size(A));

/ /

Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra

Creating Matrices (/) Creating Matrices (/)

Concatenation can be used to combine data into a vector or a

The easiest way to create a new matrix is with one of the
matrix:
following functions:
>> a = [1 2 3];
>> A = ones(2, 3)
>> b = [4 5 6];
1 1 1
>> c = [a b]
1 1 1
1 2 3 4 5 6
>> A = zeros(2, 4)
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 Or to combine vectors into a matrix:
>> A = eye(2)
1 0 >> a = [1 2 3];
0 1 >> b = [4 5 6];
>> A = rand(2, 3) >> c = [a; b]
0.79685 0.45532 0.87406 1 2 3
0.63808 0.80119 0.66488 4 5 6

Note the use of the semicolon (;) to get vertical concatenation

/ /
Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra
Using Matrices: Transpose Intermezzo: numel, length & size

Transposing a matrix in MATLAB can be done using the There is a difference between numel, length, and size:
apostrophe:
>> X = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]
>> Y = X';
>> X = [1 2 3; 4 5 6]
>> size(X)
1 2 3
2 3
4 5 6
>> size(Y)
>> Y = X'
3 2
1 4
>> length(X)
2 5
3
3 6
>> length(Y)
3
Get matrix dimensions using size: >> numel(X)
6
>> size(X) >> numel(Y)
ans = 2 3 6
>> size(Y) >> size(X, 1)
ans = 3 2 2

/ /

Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra

Using Matrices: Arithmetic Using Matrices: Indexing (/)

Matrix products only work if the inner dimensions agree:

Accessing matrix elements is similar to how its done for vectors:
C = A B
np nm mp
>> A = rand(2, 3)
This holds also in MATLAB: 0.963101 0.538288 0.067098
0.035767 0.554350 0.865936
>> A = rand(2, 3); >> A(1, 1)
>> B = rand(3, 4); 0.963101
>> C = A * B >> A(2, 3)
1.50337 0.67041 0.90480 1.71883 0.865936
0.53347 0.22982 0.60756 1.05374 >> A(2, 2) = 5
0.963101 0.538288 0.067098
>> C = B * A 0.035767 5.000000 0.865936
Error using _*_
Inner matrix dimensions must agree.

/ 6/

Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra

Using Matrices: Indexing (/) Using Matrices: Indexing (/)

Matrices can be indexed using a range too: Some more matrix indexing:

>> A = rand(3, 3) >> A = rand(2, 3)

0.33766 0.45736 0.98737 0.963101 0.538288 0.067098
0.52763 0.70984 0.86388 0.035767 0.554350 0.865936
0.16245 0.62284 0.62419 >> A(:, 1)
>> A(1, 2:3) 0.963101
0.45736 0.98737 0.035767
>> A(2:3, 1:2) >> A(2, :)
0.52763 0.70984 0.035767 0.554350 0.865936
0.16245 0.62284
Indexing with a logical matrix yields a column vector:
Or, they can be indexed using a single number:
>> A(A > 0.5)
>> A(6) 0.963101
0.62284 0.538288
0.554350
0.865936
In this case, MATLAB will count column-wise.
/ 8/
Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra
Using Matrices: Indexing (/) Intermezzo: Short-circuiting

Logical vectors can be combined with a single | or &: Why is there even a difference between |, ||, &, and &&?
>> x = 5:10
5 6 7 8 9 10 Here, both sides are evaluated, and then & is performed:

>> x < 7 x = 0;
1 1 0 0 0 0 if (x ~= 0) & (5/x < 1.0)
a = a + x;
>> x > 8 end
0 0 0 0 1 1
Whereas here, evaluation stops after the rst comparison:
>> x < 7 | x > 8 % use | (OR) to combine
1 1 0 0 1 1 x = 0;
if (x ~= 0) && (5/x < 1.0)
>> x(x < 7 | x > 8) a = a + x;
5 6 9 10 end

>> x(x > 7 & x < 10) % use & (AND) to combine Therefore, we use || and && in if statements, and | and & with
8 9 indexing.
/ /

Matrix Algebra Matrix Algebra

Solving Linear Systems Ordinary Least Squares

MATLAB is a great tool for solving systems of the form:

Recall that Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) solves,
Ax = b
Xb=y
Take for instance the following system of equations:
From the rst year, we know that the OLS estimator is given by:
x + x + x =
x + x + x = 6
b = (XX) Xy
x + x + x =
A direct translation of this to MATLAB code would be
In MATLAB:
>> b = inv(X'*X)*X'*y;
>> A = [2 1 3; 1 1 1; 1 3 2];
>> b = [10; 6; 13]; MATLAB does OLS when dividing by a non-square matrix:
>> x = A \ b
2.0 >> b = X \ y;
3.0
1.0 (see: help mldivide)
/ /

Plotting Plotting
Demo: Plotting Demo: Plotting: Intro

Our rst plot:

>> y = 1:10;
Plotting functionality in MATLAB is great! >> plot(y)

Lets do a demo! Our second plot:

>> x = 5:5;
>> y = x .^ 2
Note: The demo le will be on Blackboard. The following slides >> plot(x, y)
are just for reference.
Closing all plots:

>> close

/ /
Plotting Plotting
Demo: Plotting: Options Demo: Plotting: Labelling

Plot options (see help plot for more)

Labelling and axis setting
>> plot(x, y, 'r')
>> plot(x, y, ' r*')
>> temperature = 17.88 + 5*rand(1, 31);
>> days = 1:31;
Advanced plot options: >> plot(days, temperature);
>> xlabel('Days');
>> plot(x, y, 'LineWidth', 3, ... >> ylabel('Temperature');
'MarkerEdgeColor', 'k', ... >> title('Temperature in Rotterdam, August 2015');
'MarkerSize', 10) >> axis([1, 31, min(temperature), max(temperature)]);

Note: You can use ellipsis (...) to continue a command on the

next line. This can help keep your code readable!

/ 6/

Plotting Plotting
Demo: Plotting: Combining plots -D Plotting: Intro

Combining plots can be done in one plot as follows:

-D plotting can be used when
>> plot(1:10, 'k. '); you want to visualize a function
>> hold on;
>> plot(10: 1:1, 'r *'); or data which is dependent on
>> hold off; two variables, i.e. 200

150

Or using subplots: z = f(x, y) 100

50

>> subplot(1, 2, 1); For instance 0

>> plot(1:10, 'k. '); 10

>> subplot(1, 2, 2); z = f(x, y) = x + y

5 10

0 5

>> plot(10: 1:1, 'r *'); -5

-5
0

-10 -10

We need to evaluate f(x, y) at

Or, if you want a new gure window to plot in, use:
every combination of x and y.
>> figure

/ 8/

Plotting Plotting
-D Plotting: Meshgrid -D Plotting: Meshgrid

Using this X and Y from meshgrid, we can calculate our -D

The function meshgrid creates this grid for -D plotting function using elementwise multiplication:
>> x = 2:2; >> x = 2:2;
>> y = 1:1; >> y = 1:1;
>> [X, Y] = meshgrid(x, y) >> [X, Y] = meshgrid(x, y);
X = >> Z = X.^2 + Y.^2
2 1 0 1 2 Z =
2 1 0 1 2 5 2 1 2 5
2 1 0 1 2 4 1 0 1 4
Y = 5 2 1 2 5
1 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0
Finally, create the plot using either surf or mesh:
1 1 1 1 1
>> surf(X, Y, Z)

/ /
Plotting File I/O
Utilities The Workspace

A nal useful plotting function is the hist function, for creating

histograms:
In some cases, it can be useful to save your current variables for
>> x = randn(1, 1e6) later use:
>> hist(x, 100)
>> save('myworkspace.mat')
40000

or:
30000 >> save('myworkspace.mat', 'x', 'y')

At a later date, you can reload your workspace using

20000

>> load('myworkspace.mat')
10000

Be careful: Existing variables will be overwritten!

0
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6

/ /

File I/O File I/O

CSV Files Formatting text output (/)

Real-life data is often supplied as CSV les, which look like this:
Writing data to screen can be done using fprintf
25.133,3.1416,18.85
9.4248,15.708,21.991 >> fprintf('Bananas contain a lot of potassium.')
12.566,28.274,6.2832 Bananas contain a lot of potassium.>>

We can load this data into a matrix using Notice that there is no linebreak after the sentence, we have to
add this manually:
>> A = csvread('mydata.csv');
>> fprintf('Bananas contain a lot of potassium.\n')
Writing data to CSV les is not done using csvwrite but through: Bananas contain a lot of potassium.
>>
>> dlmwrite('myoutput.csv', A, 'precision', 16);

This saves the data with more precision than csvwrite.

/ /

File I/O File I/O

Formatting text output (/) Writing to text les

The function fprintf can also format numbers or strings into Writing formatted text to a le requires opening the le in
text: MATLAB rst:

>> fprintf('%i bananas have %.2f grams of %s.\n', ... >> fileID = fopen('myoutputfile.txt', 'w');
3, 1.266, 'potassium')
3 bananas contain 1.27 grams of potassium. Then, we can write to the le by specifying the le ID in fprintf:
>>
>> fprintf(fileID, 'Bananas!\n');
Here, we have format strings: >> fprintf(fileID, ...
'%i banana contains %.3f grams of potassium.\n', ...
I %i prints an integer 1, 0.422);
I %.2f prints a oating point number to decimal places
I %s prints a string When were done writing to the le, we close it again:

>> fclose(fileID);
Format strings are available in many other languages, including
Java. Note: Not closing the le can lead to weird bugs!

/ 6/
Memory Usage Memory Usage
Theory Practice

When you store a vector in MATLAB:

>> x = 1:3;
Memory in your computer (RAM) can be seen as a list of boxes:
itll be in adjacent boxes somewhere:
... ...
... ...

A computer program asks the Operating System (OS) for some

boxes, every time you need to store some data. When you concatenate you create a new vector:

>> x = [x 4];
Programs that constantly have to ask the OS for more boxes, will
be slow. Which means a reallocation occurs:
... ...

Reallocations can slow down your code signicantly!

/ 8/

Proling Proling
Demo: Timing Code Sections Demo: Proling

Timing pieces of code can be done using tic and toc:

tic; If you want to nd out where your code is slow, use the proler:
x = 1:1e5;
y = []; >> profile on
for xi=x >> my_slow_function();
y = [y xi^2]; >> profile off
6 end >> profile viewer
elapsed = toc

Compare this with:

tic;
x = 1:1e5;
First make it work, then make it fast.
y = x.^2;
elapsed = toc

/ /