MATLAB

MATLAB - programming language and a numerical computing environment. It is great for

Advantages:

• Provides a great integrated programming environment with nice built-in tools: smart code editor, debugging tools, plotting tools, variable inspector
• Includes many high-quality libraries for scientific computing: Signal Processing, Statistics, Optimization, Data Acquisition, Image Processing, etc
• Doesn't require any setup or tuning
• Good for rapid prototyping

Disadvantages:

• Expensive - a basic student version is $99. However, most schools have MATLAB licenses and can provide them to students for free
• Is not used outside academia and for purposes other than numerical computing
• Not optimal for large collaborative coding projects