What programming language is MATLAB written in?

MATLAB's engine and desktop application are built mainly in C and C++, not in the MATLAB language you type into a script. Cleve Moler wrote the first version in Fortran in the late 1970s as a front end for the LINPACK and EISPACK numerical libraries; MathWorks co-founder Jack Little rewrote it in C in 1984, before he and Moler launched the company to sell it commercially.

Is this different from the language you write inside MATLAB?

Yes. When you write a .m script or function, you're using the MATLAB language, an interpreted language built for matrix operations. That's separate from the C and C++ code MathWorks uses to build the interpreter itself and the surrounding application.

Where does this distinction matter?

Mostly if you're extending MATLAB rather than scripting in it. MathWorks ships C and C++ APIs for calling MATLAB from external programs, and parts of the MATLAB desktop have historically run on a bundled Java Runtime Environment for the GUI, a dependency MathWorks has been phasing out in favor of web-based app tools in recent releases.

Published at: August 2, 2026