Course: Programming in Octave/MATLAB credits: 5

You will be introduced to the MATLAB-compatible programming language (GNU) Octave for the purpose of performing simulations with data organised in multidimensional grids. First, based on available notebooks and online material, you will learn the basic syntax of the programming language with regard to operators, flow control and functions, and use single and compound data types such as vectors, matrices, and multidimensional arrays or cell arrays. With this knowledge, you implement some discrete models based on cellular automata, also using visualisations and file I/O. You discover that models based on deceptively simple basic rules can lead to highly complex emergent behaviour on a larger scale. Initially, you do this individually by implementing and exploring a "toy model", such as the well-known Conway's Game Of Life. Later, in small mixed groups, you also construct more relevant discrete natural science models with practical applications in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, or possibly a proposal of your own. You will present final results in the form of an interactive digital demonstration set-up with accompanying documentation in the form of a wiki.