Dear friends,

I think of designing a college-level class for High School kids, which would serve as a very simple introduction into computational neuroscience. I already know what problems I'd like to give them, but I am still struggling about the programming language to choose. All my friends in neuroscience are using Matlab, but I have heard that in many fields (biostatistics, genomics) R is at least as popular as Matlab, or even more popular. Also R is free, which seems to provide certain logistical benefits for the course organization. Still I don't want to teach them something they are not really likely to use in the neuroscience lab later on.

Thus please help me with this mini-poll. If you use Matlab or/and R in your research, please, indicate so in the comments! Also, if possible, hint at what kind of science you are talking about (fMRI, spike trains analysis, cellular neuroscience?..) It will give me a better perspective of the current state of affairs.

Or, if you have any general advice to give, I'll be really grateful for them as well! Thank you!