This introduction to computer-based problem-solving using the MATLAB ® environment is highly recommended for students wishing to learn the concepts and develop the programming skills that are fundamental to computational science and engineering (CSE). Through a ‘teaching by examples’ approach, the authors pose strategically chosen problems to help first-time programmers learn these necessary concepts and skills. Each section formulates a problem and then introduces those new MATLAB ® language features that are necessary to solve it. This approach puts problem-solving and algorithmic thinking first and syntactical details second. Each solution is followed by a ‘talking point’ that concerns some related, larger issue associated with CSE. Collectively, the worked examples, talking points, and 300+ homework problems build intuition for the process of discretization and an appreciation for dimension, inexactitude, visualization, randomness, and complexity. This sets the stage for further coursework in CSE areas.