CLD completeness and score

[buxj]

Hi guys, 

This is my first time to post messge here. I have been checking forum since I began preparing my CLD, and I will take my first try next week. I have prepared for CLD for a while, and I think I am basically OK for it. I just have a concern about the time management in the actual exam. To be honest, I am reallya SLOW PROGRAMMER!!! I really worry about that I cannot finish programming by the end of exam to finish all the fuctionanlity. Could anyone give me some idea if I cannot finish the programming, is there any posibility to pass the exam??

Thanks.

[Fisel · Accepted solution]

Hello, and congratulations on approaching this milestone in your career as a LabVIEW programmer. 

It certainly is possible to pass the CLD exam without programming all of the requirements.  You'll maximize your odds if you follow a few guidelines, including:

• "Bank" as many points for Style and Documentation as you can by programming with best-practice habits. 
• Style:  By this point in your preparation we hope that you have developed good habits, so you "naturally" program with good style.  Verify this by running the VI Analyzer on your practice exam(s), and see where you are losing points.  Anything you can easily correct (such as not using the default icon) is "free points." 
• Documentation: Make sure you are making use of the different documentation methods available.  Don't write extensive text, just a short note in each place.  Again, ideally your preparation for the exam has developed good-practice habits, so these are second-nature and do not slow you down extensively.
• Program modularly and test often.  Even with full style and documentation, you will need some functionality points.
• Start with the foundational functionality -- anything that other functionality depends on, such as file IO or timing. 
• (NI's CLD Success package has some great exercises so you can have a headstart on how to approach these).
• Then add functionality piece by piece, making sure that each addition does not prevent the functionality you have already programmed.  Be ready to revert if necessary!  Since the functionality grade reflects only demonstrated functionality, you're better off having basic functionality displayed on the front panel than an elaborate program that never "lights up" the front-panel indicators. 

The CLD verifies not only your ability to make code work, but that you can write code in an organized way so that you and others can modify and expand the code later as necessary.  The compressed-time environment, and the practices this pressure encourages, are part of the test.  If you realize this and work within the constraints you'll increase your grade on the exam and, we believe, the quality of your programming. 

Good luck on the CLD.

[crossrulz]

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember figuring up that you only needed about half of the functionality points in order to pass.  That does assume you have full points for documentation and style though.

[Jacobson-ni]

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@crossrulz wrote:

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember figuring up that you only needed about half of the functionality points in order to pass.  That does assume you have full points for documentation and style though.

---

I think you only technically need 3/15 or 20% on functionality to pass if you get every point in style or documentation which is interesting to think about.

It's probably unrealistic to expect full points on documentation and style but scoring 10/15 (think 66% of functionality) puts you in a pretty good place.

[crossrulz]

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@Jacobson-ni wrote:

---

@crossrulz wrote:

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember figuring up that you only needed about half of the functionality points in order to pass.  That does assume you have full points for documentation and style though.

---

I think you only technically need 3/15 or 20% on functionality to pass if you get every point in style or documentation which is interesting to think about.

It's probably unrealistic to expect full points on documentation and style but scoring 10/15 (think 66% of functionality) puts you in a pretty good place.

---

Looking at the breakdown again...

The 10 points for documentation are so stupid easy to get, you should get all of them.  10/15 for style is doing pretty good (I have found that NI can get really nitpicky with some of these points).  So that leaves 8/15 for functionality needed, slightly more than half.  That was the goal I told my collegues to go after.  Two of them passed.

[JÞB]

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@crossrulz wrote:

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@Jacobson-ni wrote:

---

@crossrulz wrote:

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I remember figuring up that you only needed about half of the functionality points in order to pass.  That does assume you have full points for documentation and style though.

---

I think you only technically need 3/15 or 20% on functionality to pass if you get every point in style or documentation which is interesting to think about.

It's probably unrealistic to expect full points on documentation and style but scoring 10/15 (think 66% of functionality) puts you in a pretty good place.

---

Looking at the breakdown again...

The 10 points for documentation are so stupid easy to get, you should get all of them.  10/15 for style is doing pretty good (I have found that NI can get really nitpicky with some of these points).  So that leaves 8/15 for functionality needed, slightly more than half.  That was the goal I told my collegues to go after.  Two of them passed.

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No-one mentioned it yet so I will.

VI Analyzer- will be your friend and help you catch those "Nitpicky" style and documentation points.  (Hint: Often, the proctors will give you a "Bit" of time to set up the IDE... Launch VIA in that time... VIA takes a while to load on a first launch)

Documentation: Get all those points first! (Code like you have a plan!)  "Code by intention" is always a good thing and those documentation points are cheap in time to gather.  The speed comes with practice!  The ability to create code comes from knowledge.  In essesnce A CLD is knowlageable.  Best of luck to you! Let us know how you did and what helped.

[ramktamu]

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