Characteristics of an EV3 Medium motor
This is what the medium motor looks like:

When you are looking at its red drive opening, the positive direction is a clockwise rotation.

Typical use of the medium motor block
This motor is more precise, than powerful. You will have a hard time lifting heavy objects with a medium motor.
On the other hand, it is the most precise motor that can turn to one degree of precision and has very small lashback (the play between adjacent gears in the motor itself).
You will rarely have to programme the motor outside the range of +180 to -180 degrees and most often you will need +90 or -90 degrees.