MATLAB
/MAT-lab/ · noun · Development · Origin: 1984
Definitions
A proprietary numerical computing environment and programming language widely used in engineering, signal processing, and control systems. MATLAB's matrix-based syntax and extensive toolboxes make it standard in academia and industry, though its expensive licensing has pushed many users toward open-source alternatives like Python and Julia.
In plain English: A paid programming tool popular in engineering and science for doing math with matrices and building simulations.
Example: Every engineering undergrad learns MATLAB, then spends their career trying to convince their employer to buy a site license.
Origin Story
The MATrix LABoratory that engineers can't escape
Cleve Moler wrote the first version of MATLAB in the late 1970s at the University of New Mexico. He wanted to give his students easy access to LINPACK and EISPACK, Fortran libraries for matrix computations, without requiring them to learn Fortran.
The name **MATLAB** is a contraction of **MATrix LABoratory**. The original MATLAB was free and written in Fortran. In 1984, Jack Little and Steve Bangert rewrote it in C and co-founded **MathWorks** to commercialize it.
MATLAB became the standard tool in engineering education and industry. Control systems, signal processing, robotics, and finance all run on MATLAB models. Its dominance in academia means most engineering graduates learn MATLAB before any general-purpose language.
Coined by: Cleve Moler
Context: University of New Mexico, late 1970s
Fun fact: Moler gave away the original MATLAB source code freely. When he saw Jack Little's commercial version, he initially worried about losing control -- but the partnership with MathWorks made MATLAB into a multi-billion-dollar ecosystem.