This has absolutely been one of the important aspects of its popularity. It was added very early on to accompany the matrices' [functionality] and make it easy to use plots. Today, they’re used throughout science and engineering. Whenever I read a scientific or engineering publication or journal article and there’s a plot in it I look to see if it’s made from MATLAB. It's sort of puzzle; they don’t say if it is a MATLAB plot — they don’t need to — but there are clues in the way the axes are labelled and so on that indicates a MATLAB plot.
Were there any particularly difficult or frustrating problems you had to overcome in the development of MATLAB?
Early on, 20 years ago, it was important for us to run on all of the computers that were around. Unix workstations like Sun's were much more powerful than PCs and there were several Unix workstations: Sun, Apollo and so on. They’re not in business anymore because the PC has overtaken them, but in the early days it was important that we work on all these different architectures because our customers didn’t just use one machine, they had access to a number of different machines and the fact that they could move their MATLAB programs from one machine to another was an important aspect of preserving popularity. That was difficult to do, because there were a lot of operating systems and not a lot of standards.
Would you have done anything differently in the development of MATLAB if you had the chance?
That’s a good question. MATLAB is a programming language and most users use it as this programming language. So it has evolved from something that was very primitive to a modern programming language, object oriented and so on. Its evolution, from a primitive calculator to a modern programming language, has been very difficult.
If I had started out at the beginning to design a programming language, MATLAB probably would have been something quite different. The original intention was that it would be easy to use and that it would have solid mathematics underlying it. I’m glad I did it the way I did, but if I knew what it was going to be today, I might not have done it that way.
Have you ever seen MATLAB used in a way in which you never intended it to be used?
Yes I have, many times! One of the most remarkable was at Australia's Synchrotron centre outside Melbourne. The software that controls the machine, the magnets, the timing and the operation of the machine was written in MATLAB. I saw a demonstration of that when I was in Australia two or three years ago. It’s not only used at that facility but they share that software with atom-smashers in other countries.
What’s your favourite feature of MATLAB, if you had to pick one?
It’s the mathematics. The thing that I enjoy as a mathematician is finding out how mathematics underlies so many different disciplines. We didn't intend to do automobiles, anti-lock brakes or human genome or pricing of derivatives in the finance market. We never set out to do any of that originaly, but mathematics is common to all of these. I really enjoy talking about how these different fields are unified by the underlying mathematics.
What are you proudest of in terms of MATLAB’s initial development and continuing use?
The popularity, the fact that this is now used by probably one million people around the world and the fact that the science and engineering influences peoples lives. That’s not something that a research mathematician expects to see his work used in. That has been very gratifying.
Do you have any advice for today’s maths, science and engineering students?
Stay in school. I’m serious, it’s very tempting for these guys [to leave early], particularly in the computer business. It’s so attractive and they get such good jobs. They can go out and be a web designer, they’re attracted by computer graphics, games, the film industry. That’s exciting, attractive work and these students leave school [university] to go get those good jobs. For the long term, they should stay in school and learn a little bit more math and a little more engineering before they succumb to all the attractive industries.
What do you wish would be taught more in universities?
We’re on the intersection between mathematics, engineering and computer science. In many universities, those three disciplines just concentrate on their own little field. The mathematicians don’t want to dirty their hands with engineering, the engineers are afraid of mathematics, it’s the interdisciplinary, the combination of all three of those that students should have a chance to appreciate.
What do you envisage for MATLAB’s future?
Biomedical areas, research medicine and research biology are areas where we’re just beginning to have an impact. Our biggest competitor is actually [Microsoft] Excel. A lot of technical people do calculations with a spreadsheet, but they’d be better off using MATLAB for it and that’s the audience we want to reach. Not a particular discipline, but all the scientists and engineers who haven’t gone to the trouble to learn more powerful methods to do the calculations they want to do.
What’s next for MathWorks?
Stay on course. We’ve come through this world economic crisis in good shape. Some of our customers have been hit hard, but we survived well. We’ve got to continue to attract good people, good students out of the universities all around the world.
MathWorks is celebrating 25 years. Do you think there will be a 50th and, eventually, 100th anniversary?
Some people are saying that! I’m getting on in years, I’m not sure I’ll be here for the 50th!