In the introductory Mechanical Engineering class, ME 1, students have to grasp the rudiments of an engineering software known as MATLAB (short form for “matrix laboratory”).  While some might enjoy the coding (which at first is significantly easier than that of its Java counterpart), MATLAB is most certainly the bane of others’ existence.

On that note, here is a bittersweet ode to the elusive yet enchanting MATLAB.

MATLAB, o MATLAB, thou art so expensive

Trying to code on you makes us so pensive

What is the syntax to write a for loop?

Hours have passed, and my eyes start to droop

From where, oh where, did you emerge?

Of crying, I now find myself on the verge

Why did the line of best fit not appear?

I’m trying to convert to pdf here

Debugging code can be a pain

And I hope that my efforts will not be in vain

On the keyboard my fingers fly, typing away

When it’s time to run the code, all that’s left is to pray

But you do have your perks, MATLAB dearest

Out of many languages, you are the clearest

Having functioning code is so gratifying

Why, oh why, are arrays and graphs so satisfying?

The user-defined functions are the opposite of mundane

A word to the wise: coding without commenting is rather insane

When submitting work, don’t forget the preamble

Then to turn in, to Canvas you scramble

Defining and passing variables can be great fun

But sometimes you just want to be done

My next conquest is SolidWorks

But coding is one of this class’s perks

Contact Sarayu Pai at smpai918 “at” stanford.edu.