Among software engineers (and maybe even Hacker News) there is sometimes a distaste for MATLAB. But it still remains a widely used language and it is very respected outside of software engineering in research and engineering. One of the main benefits I see about MATLAB is that the documentation and support are so strong and make it easy to get started, especially for people without programming backgrounds.
I think this Reddit thread is a good example: https://www.reddit.com/r/matlab/comments/dxh520/why_is_matla.... Despite the title, almost every comment is praising the MATLAB docs.
For people who doubt the value of documentation, I think looking at MATLAB and Simulink (a billion dollar company) is a good example of the value of technical writing.