{"id":3166,"date":"2012-01-27T09:38:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T14:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/?p=3166"},"modified":"2012-01-27T09:55:12","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T14:55:12","slug":"a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/2012\/01\/27\/a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink\/","title":{"rendered":"A non-engineer tinkers with Simulink"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:mwsh=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/namespace\/mcode\/v1\/syntaxhighlight.dtd\" class=\"content\">\r\n   <introduction>\r\n      <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/authors\/32620\">Greg's<\/a> pick this week is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/18880-a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink\">A non-engineer tinkers with Simulink<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/authors\/17777\">Dimitri Shvorob<\/a>.\r\n      <\/p>\r\n   <\/introduction>\r\n   <h3>Contents<\/h3>\r\n   <div>\r\n      <ul>\r\n         <li><a href=\"#1\">Non-Engineer Using Simulink&#8230;Does Not Compute.<\/a><\/li>\r\n         <li><a href=\"#2\">Can the Rest of Us Learn to Label Blocks Too?<\/a><\/li>\r\n      <\/ul>\r\n   <\/div>\r\n   <h3>Non-Engineer Using Simulink&#8230;Does Not Compute.<a name=\"1\"><\/a><\/h3>\r\n   <p>Although I don&#8217;t always understand our users' day-to-day jobs, I&#8217;m always interested to learn how they are applying MathWorks tools--especially for &#8220;non-traditional&#8221; applications.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <p>And while I&#8217;m not sure finance will be the next major boom market for Simulink, I find Dimitri&#8217;s perspective on Simulink refreshing.<\/p>\r\n   <p>For example, in Dimitri&#8217;s models:<\/p>\r\n   <li>The units of time are years rather than seconds<\/li>\r\n   <li>Block names and titles describe the purpose of their operation<\/li>\r\n   <li>The models contain a plethora of additional documentation<\/li>\r\n   <p><img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/images\/pick\/greg\/CFA_Simulink_Writeup\/Model4.PNG\"> <\/p>\r\n   <p>While these are not the most sophisticated models you will ever see, they are clean and simple to follow. Which is more than\r\n      I can say for many a model I have produced.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <h3>Can the Rest of Us Learn to Label Blocks Too?<a name=\"2\"><\/a><\/h3>\r\n   <p>I am certainly guilty of building a model quickly to describe some particular dynamic system, but then forgetting to go through\r\n      and change my block names. All of a sudden I have 20 blocks all named  &#8220;Subsystem&#8221;, and I forget why they are in the model\r\n      and what they do.  This is especially painful if I end up going back to the model after a couple of weeks.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <p>As someone who often needs to work with Simulink models built by other people,  I don&#8217;t know that I can suggest strongly enough\r\n      the value in spending the extra time to flesh out the model with details like block names, signal names, and occasionally,\r\n      general comments as Simulink Annotations.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <p>On the other hand, it does speak to how powerful a tool Simulink can be, that we can construct a complex, sophisticated simulation\r\n      without ever labeling a single block. (Although, I&#8217;m not sure I want to admit to that in print!)\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <p><b>Comments<\/b><\/p>\r\n   <p>If you would like to leave any comments regarding this post, please click <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/?p=3166#respond\">here<\/a>.\r\n   <\/p>\r\n   <p>Or you can leave a comment for Dimitri Shvorob <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/18880-a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink#comments\">here<\/a>.   <\/p><script language=\"JavaScript\">\r\n<!--\r\n\r\n    function grabCode_233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb() {\r\n        \/\/ Remember the title so we can use it in the new page\r\n        title = document.title;\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Break up these strings so that their presence\r\n        \/\/ in the Javascript doesn't mess up the search for\r\n        \/\/ the MATLAB code.\r\n        t1='233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb ' + '##### ' + 'SOURCE BEGIN' + ' #####';\r\n        t2='##### ' + 'SOURCE END' + ' #####' + ' 233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb';\r\n    \r\n        b=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];\r\n        i1=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t1)+t1.length;\r\n        i2=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t2);\r\n \r\n        code_string = b.innerHTML.substring(i1, i2);\r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/REPLACE_WITH_DASH_DASH\/g,'--');\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Use \/x3C\/g instead of the less-than character to avoid errors \r\n        \/\/ in the XML parser.\r\n        \/\/ Use '\\x26#60;' instead of '<' so that the XML parser\r\n        \/\/ doesn't go ahead and substitute the less-than character. \r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/\\x3C\/g, '\\x26#60;');\r\n\r\n        author = 'Greg Wolff';\r\n        copyright = 'Copyright 2012 The MathWorks, Inc.';\r\n\r\n        w = window.open();\r\n        d = w.document;\r\n        d.write('<pre>\\n');\r\n        d.write(code_string);\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Add author and copyright lines at the bottom if specified.\r\n        if ((author.length > 0) || (copyright.length > 0)) {\r\n            d.writeln('');\r\n            d.writeln('%%');\r\n            if (author.length > 0) {\r\n                d.writeln('% _' + author + '_');\r\n            }\r\n            if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n                d.writeln('% _' + copyright + '_');\r\n            }\r\n        }\r\n\r\n        d.write('<\/pre>\\n');\r\n      \r\n      d.title = title + ' (MATLAB code)';\r\n      d.close();\r\n      }   \r\n      \r\n-->\r\n<\/script><p style=\"text-align: right; font-size: xx-small; font-weight:lighter;   font-style: italic; color: gray\"><br><a href=\"javascript:grabCode_233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb()\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;        font-style: italic;\">Get \r\n            the MATLAB code \r\n            <noscript>(requires JavaScript)<\/noscript><\/span><\/a><br><br>\r\n      Published with MATLAB&reg; 7.13<br><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<!--\r\n233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb ##### SOURCE BEGIN #####\r\n%% A non-engineer tinkers with Simulink\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/authors\/32620 Greg's>\r\n% pick this week is \r\n% <https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/18880-a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink A non-engineer tinkers with Simulink>\r\n% by <https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/authors\/17777 Dimitri Shvorob>.\r\n% \r\n\r\n\r\n%% Non-Engineer Using Simulink\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Does Not Compute.\r\n% Although I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always understand our users' day-to-day jobs, I'm always\r\n% interested to learn how they are applying MathWorks tools--especially for\r\n% \u00e2\u20ac\u0153non-traditional\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd applications. \r\n% \r\n% And while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure finance will be the\r\n% next major boom market for Simulink, I find Dimitri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective on\r\n% Simulink refreshing. \r\n%\r\n% For example, in Dimitri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s models:\r\n% \r\n% # The units of time are years rather than seconds\r\n% # Block names and titles describe the purpose of their operation\r\n% # The models contain a plethora of additional documentation\r\n%\r\n% <<Model4.PNG>>\r\n%\r\n% While these are not the most\r\n% sophisticated models you will ever see, they are clean and simple to\r\n% follow. Which is more than I can say for many a model I have produced.\r\n% \r\n%% Can the Rest of Us Learn to Label Blocks Too? \r\n% I am certainly guilty of\r\n% building a model quickly to describe some particular dynamic system, but\r\n% then forgetting to go through and change my block names. All of a sudden I\r\n% have 20 blocks all named  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Subsystem\u00e2\u20ac\ufffd, and I forget why they are in the\r\n% model and what they do.  This is especially painful if I end up going\r\n% back to the model after a couple of weeks. \r\n%\r\n% As someone who often needs to\r\n% work with Simulink models built by other people,  I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I can\r\n% suggest strongly enough the value in spending the extra time to flesh out\r\n% the model with details like block names, signal names, and occasionally,\r\n% general comments as Simulink Annotations. \r\n%\r\n% On the other hand, it does\r\n% speak to how powerful a tool Simulink can be, that we can construct a\r\n% complex, sophisticated simulation without ever labeling a single block.\r\n% (Although, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure I want to admit to that in print!)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n%%\r\n% *Comments*\r\n%\r\n% If you would like to leave any comments regarding this post, please click \r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/?p=3166#respond here>. \r\n%\r\n% Or you can leave a comment for Dimitri Shvorob\r\n% <<https:\/\/www.mathworks.com\/matlabcentral\/fileexchange\/18880-a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink here>.\r\n##### SOURCE END ##### 233102ae9d314f3686e67d0b5451c0cb\r\n-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\r\n   \r\n      Greg's pick this week is A non-engineer tinkers with Simulink by Dimitri Shvorob.\r\n      \r\n   \r\n   Contents\r\n   \r\n      \r\n      ... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/2012\/01\/27\/a-non-engineer-tinkers-with-simulink\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3166"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3189,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3166\/revisions\/3189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/pick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}