Any idea that has received less than 3 kudos within 3 years after posting will be automatically declined.
I propose having a beginners version of LabVIEW where all of the training wheels reside and a power user version where we are not encumbered by Large Icons, Express VIs, wizards etc.
This could be accomplished in the installer where we get to pick the "features" to be installed. I propose a selection process where the aides (express VIs, Wizards, etc) can be selected or not.
As an alternative to VADave's mode, why not just implement an "advanced mode" option to disable all these things. This would mean people of multiple experience levels could use the same install, without having to put up with the lack of, or excess of ExpressVIs etc.
This has evolved from LabVIEW for beginners to LabVIEW that doesn't have the stuff that only beginners like.
Not all Express VI's are evil. If you don't like something that is installed, then just don't use it. I really don't want NI wasting time trying to decide for me what stuff I should get as an advanced user and what beginner stuff to eliminate for me since I might not want to use it.
And having a beginners only version or an experts only version will just complicate things for when we try to help some newbie on the forums debug why his 10 Express VI program with all the blue DDT wires without a while loop doesn't work right when he uses the Run Continuous and Abort buttons.
We are not forcing you to select advanced user we are just asking for the option for those of us who do not use the beginner code.
NI spends a lot of effort to make LabVIEW easy but IMHO this creates sloppy programmers who create unstructured code - kind of like BASIC with the GOTO statement.
I think we need training tools for beginners but at some point you have to take the training wheels off.
How about adding a LV quality rating for VIs based on their contents. This would be like VI analyser on steroids.
Add points for advanced functions (Queues, User Events and so on) and detract points for local variables or express VIs. You could also have a bit of deadband like 1 local variable per indicator is OK but more deducts points. Wire bends could be used, overlapping structures and so on.
If this is in a location where people can see it often, maybe it will spurn them on to learn a bit more about the "right" way to do things (I know it's a never-ending discussion as to what is right but I think nearly right is better than 90% of what the forums throw at us).
We are not forcing you to select advanced user we are just asking for the option for those of us who do not use the beginner code.
NI spends a lot of effort to make LabVIEW easy but IMHO this creates sloppy programmers who create unstructured code - kind of like BASIC with the GOTO statement.
I think we need training tools for beginners but at some point you have to take the training wheels off.
Are you responding to my post?
What you are asking for doesn't make sense to me. You ask for a LabVIEW for beginners. But now you are saying you don't want a LabVIEW that has all of the beginner functions because it will make them sloppy programmers. How do you plan on forcing the beginning programmers to take their training wheels off? Why should you or NI decide what types of tools each class of user is permitted to use or restricted from using?
Any idea that has received less than 3 kudos within 3 years after posting will be automatically declined.