Everywhere one looks in the aerospace industry, MATLAB~? surfaces as the accepted programming language for engineering analysis. With the speed at which an algorithm can be translated into a functioning MATLAB script, the wide palate of display options and the large array of discipline-specific toolboxes available for MATLAB, it is not difficult to understand the dominance it enjoys. MATLAB is a commercial product, and there are costs associated with the use of this tool: (ⅰ) Periodic licensing costs and time spent to administer licenses (ⅱ) Code base maintenance (necessary recoding due to changes in the MATLAB environment and interfaces) (ⅲ) Supporting a deployed MATLAB application for multiple users and operating systems (perhaps the greatest cost) There is a great deal of investment in MATLAB scripts in the flight test community. The inertia associated with this investment makes consideration of moving to another language nontrivial. If MATLAB costs increase, or if changes require rework of legacy scripts, we are often forced to absorb the cost simply because the move to an alternative is even more costly. Python should be considered as a cost-effective alternative to MATLAB for the Flight Test Community due to its capable associated libraries and wide acceptance and support.
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