Algorithms For Dummies

 

»

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functions.html

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functions-in-matlab-.html

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48

 

   

  PART 1 

 Getting Started

Therefore, you don’t necessarily have to choose between MATLAB and Python (or 

other language), but the more Python features you use, the easier it becomes to 

simply  work  with  Python  and  skip  MATLAB.  You  can  discover  more  about  

MATLAB in MATLAB For Dummies, by Jim Sizemore and John Paul Mueller (Wiley).

Considering other algorithm  

testing environments

A  third  major  contender  for  algorithm-related  work  is  R.  The  R  programming 

language, like Python, is free of charge. It also supports a large number of packages 

and  offers  great  flexibility.  Some  of  the  programming  constructs  are  different, 

however, and some people find R harder to use than Python. Most people view R 

as the winner when it comes to performing statistics, but they see the general- 

purpose nature of Python as having major benefits (see the articles at 

https://

www.datacamp.com/community/tutorials/r-or-python-for-data-analysis

 

and 

http://www.kdnuggets.com/2015/05/r-vs-python-data-science.html

). 

The stronger community support for Python is also a major advantage.

As previously mentioned, you can use any computer programming language to 

perform algorithm-related work, but most languages have a specific purpose in 

mind. For example, you can perform algorithm-related tasks using a language 

such as Structured Query Language (SQL), but this language focuses on data man-

agement, so some algorithm-related tasks might become convoluted and difficult 

to perform. A significant lack in SQL is the ability to plot data with ease and to 

perform  some  of  the  translations  and  transformations  that  algorithm-specific 

work requires. In short, you need to consider what you plan to do when choosing 

a language. This book uses Python because it truly is the best overall language to 

perform the tasks at hand, but it’s important to realize that you may need another 

language at some point.