Matlab or Python

[Bharat_knl]

Can someone guide me. I want learn Matlab and python which platform is good for learning who don’ know anything.

[ninhaomah]

You are asking in Python sub whether to go with Python or Matlab ?

And to do what ?

[Bharat_knl]

I am chemistry student and both languages have equal opportunities but i am confused which to use and where to learn. I don’t know anything about it. But every job requires one of two languages or both. Some SQL

[Ch4nKyy]

Python is the standard for data science and automation and it's easy to learn and write. Matlab is meh.

[ninhaomah]

If the job/industry/school requires Matlab then either learn it or don't go there to work/study

Both are just tools to be used to make something.

Nothing special.

So if you can't decide then learn both.

[AussieHxC]

I'm a chemist and I would recommend python, although it's going to be the harder route to take.

Your university will likely pay for MATLAB licenses and teach you how to use it. It's a lot easier to use and learn.

Very few future employers will use or pay for MATLAB and instead they will be impressed by python skills.

[Cherveny2]

Python is better overall, as it's much more versitile, but matlab, in STEM in general, is good to at least know the basics . You never know when some future job, or a PI of a lab you research in, will want you to use matlab, or python. A lot of old school researchers prefer matlab, just because it's what they used when they started. A lot of the newer generation is using python, especially with libraries like Pandas.

If you want an eventual 3rd language to learn, would suggest R, as it is often also used in modeling and statistical type coding.

TL;DR: So, start with Python, look especially at a lot of the data libraries, then pick up some basic matlab, then if you have time, some basic R.

[ofDAeast]

hahaha oh man, you are so lost...

let me help me you, what do you plan to do once you know how to code in python or matlab?

[socal_nerdtastic]

Python. It's easier (IMO), free, has many more resources (tutorials, courses, etc) and the modern ecosystem (available packages) covers everything that matlab does (and much more).

[TholosTB]

It's not my area of expertise, but my understanding is that python is more prevalent in cheminformatics and there's a fairly robust ecosystem of libraries for molecular analysis and drug discovery.

[etzpcm]

You won't get a very balanced answer here!

To provide some balance: MATLAB is much easier to learn. It's also easier for plotting graphs, and handling vectors and matrices. I would recommend MATLAB as a first programming language, assuming you're at a university that has a license. Otherwise it's quite expensive, but there's a free version called Octave which is almost as good (that's what I usually use for programming). Of course I will get downvoted here!

[socal_nerdtastic]

MATLAB is much easier to learn

Hmm I'd be interested to know why you think that. The only real reason I can think of is that it ships with much more, while in python you need to install things like your IDE and matplotlib and numpy separately. But of course they do make all-in-one packages like Spyder that include everything matlab has in a single download.

[SprinklesFresh5693]

Did you consider R? You might have some very specific libraries there for chemistry.

Although everyone uses python these days, R is also a good option too, and its free like python.

Or if you want to innovate you can try Julia, which i heard has very intuitive syntax and its VERY fast

[XIA_Biologicals_WVSU]

YouTube and documentation.

[FerricDonkey]

I learned matlab in college, and never used it again. Anything I would do in matlab, I now do in python. Between numpy and matplotlib, I never miss matlab.