matlab history.

In the mid-1970s, Cleve Moler and several colleagues developed the FORTRAN subroutine libraries called LINPACK and EISPACK under a grant from the National Science Foundation. LINPACK is a collection of FORTRAN subroutines for solving linear equations, while EISPACK contains subroutines for solving eigenvalue problems. Together, LINPACK and EISPACK represent the state of the art software for matrix computation. In the late 1970s, Cleve, who was then chairman of the computer science department at the University of New Mexico, wanted to be able to teach students in his linear algebra courses using the LINPACK and EISPACK software. However, he didn't want them to have to program in FORTRAN, because this wasn't the purpose of the course. So, as a "hobby" on his own time, he started to write a program that would provide simple interactive access to LINPACK and EISPACK. He named his program MATLAB, for MATrix LABoratory. Over the next several years, when Cleve would visit another university to give a talk, or as a visiting professor, he would end up by leaving a copy of his MATLAB on the university machines. Within a year or two, MATLAB started to catch on by word of mouth within the applied math community as a "cult" phenomena. In early 1983, John Little was exposed to MATLAB because of a visit Cleve made to Stanford University. Little, an engineer, recognized the potential application of MATLAB to engineering applications. So in 1983, Little teamed up with Moler and Steve Bangert to develop a second generation, professional version of MATLAB written in C and integrated with graphics. The MathWorks, Inc. was founded in 1984 to market and continue development of MATLAB.

(http://www.pitchup.com/matlab/faq.aspx)

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(1)be exposed to...有的时候我们描述一个人，经常会说“他从小就开始接触...”，或是“他从小就接受...熏陶”。Steven今天就给大家介绍一个很好用的短语---be exposed to sthJennifer was exposed to acting at an early age.这是一片介绍《老友记》女主角Jennifer Aniston文章中的一句话。在这里很显然是说：Jennifer早年就开始受到表演艺术的熏陶。

　　[补充例句]He was exposed to art when he was a little child.他小的时候受到了大量的艺术熏陶。

　　She was exposed to jazz music when her grandpa was still alive. 在她爷爷在世的时候，她曾广泛接触爵士音乐。

　　[其他含义]当然，be exposed to sth在不同的情况下面的理解可能也会有所不同。

　　expose是“使暴露,使曝光”的意思，有的时候是暴露在好的东西里，有的时候是暴露在坏的东西里。所以就有了我们下面的句子：

　The children in Iraq are still exposed to violence.


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(2)
Quick definitions (word of mouth)
noun: gossip spread by spoken communication (Example: "The news of their affair was spread by word of mouth")