Using the MATLAB Engine :: Calling MATLAB from C and Fortran Programs (External Interfaces)

External Interfaces

Using the MATLAB Engine

Some of the things you can do with the MATLAB engine are:

Call a math routine, for example, to invert an array or to compute an FFT from your own program. When employed in this manner, MATLAB is a powerful and programmable mathematical subroutine library.
Build an entire system for a specific task, for example, radar signature analysis or gas chromatography, where the front end (GUI) is programmed in C and the back end (analysis) is programmed in MATLAB, thereby shortening development time.

The MATLAB engine operates by running in the background as a separate process from your own program. This offers several advantages:

On UNIX, the MATLAB engine can run on your machine, or on any other UNIX machine on your network, including machines of a different architecture. Thus you could implement a user interface on your workstation and perform the computations on a faster machine located elsewhere on your network. The description of the engOpen function offers further information.
Instead of requiring that all of MATLAB be linked to your program (a substantial amount of code), only a small engine communication library is needed.

Calling MATLAB from C and Fortran Programs The Engine Library