Software tutorial/Loading data in MATLAB or Python

A number of people asked me how to load data into MATLAB and Python after our class on the poor ability of spreadsheets to do serious engineering calculations.

Here are some functions that you can use in either language.

File format	MATLAB	Python
Excel files	xlsread(...) and xlswrite(...) Can read both the text and values in an Excel file. Cell containing formulas are imported as the result of the formula value.	The best Python libraries at the moment are xlrd and xlwt for reading and writing Excel files. See the xlrd and xlwt website for more details and a tutorial.
Comma-separated value (CSV) files are a standard format for many years and can be read on any system, since they are pure text files.	csvread(...) and csvwrite(...)	CSV in Python
XML files are rapidly becoming a fairly standard import and export format for data, because it describes both the data and the nature of the data in the file.	xmlread(...) and xmlwrite(...).	XML Python