Teaching systems theory using MATLAB

The author describes how the software package MATLAB has been used to remove the burden of numerical calculation from tutorial and laboratory work in the Systems and Control courses at the University of Natal. The package has also been enhanced through the addition of two simple commands to enable it to be used to implement real-time control in a laboratory environment. it is noted that the fundamentals of control can be easily demonstrated, and the designs can be implemented in real-time without the computing becoming a programming nightmare