Why do both VI's function different?

[altenbach]

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altenbach wrote:
(All the other code mentioned does not scale well, and needs to be modified (and gets more complex!) whenever the number of booleans changes. Not good! :))

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Sorry, my mistake. Of course Mike mentioned something similar to my solution in his first reply. (I only looked at the various attachments and missed that)

So the above should read "All other code attached above does not scale well...".

Message Edited by altenbach on 01-06-2008 01:37 AM

[Christian Mergl]

@mikeporter:

"Just debug" is far enough at this point.

Don't you think Joyce could be able to find the mistakes on his own, don't think this could be a better way in learning LabVIEW? Especially in such simple VIs? How did you learn LabVIEW? Did you get explaind everything or have you made your own mistakes, then debugged or searched the help or whatever to find out whats going wrong and have a better understanding of the code you have built?

Sorry but, "I have two different VIs not working the same as they should ..." is not enough ! Learning by doing!

Christian

[altenbach]

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Christian_M wrote: "Just debug" is far enough at this point.

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Well, presumably Joyce was debugging, how else could he/she tell that the results are different and even come up with guesses as to why. Your answer was thus irrelevant, unecessary and unhelpful.

The way a forum works best is if people only contribute if they have something useful to say, else we always would have a flood of obvious, but ultimately unhelpful one-liner answers such as:

• "This is easy, just try!"
• "Read the manual!"
• "Just debug!"
• "why don't you figure it out by yourself!"

The forum can do without any of these!

Obviously, Joyce had problems debugging, so your answer could have been made somewhat useful with a few sentences about how to debug (probes, execution highlighting, etc.).

Don't forget that the skill levels here cover a huge dynamic range and if a question seems to simple for you, you need to realize that the person asking the question probably just started out with LabVIEW and thus does not have the skills and knowledge to understand what to do exactly after reading your answer.

Everybody has the right to a helpful answer. Be it a beginner, a seasoned veteran, or even a 10 year old kid 😄

[mikeporter]

For the most part I would echo altenbach's comments - while also advocating the advantages of learning by doing. However for this sort of OJT process to work effectively there needs to be a basic understanding in place about the tools themselves. Otherwise the person simply ends up reinforcing bad work habits. So I took a step back from the original problem and addressed a couple fundamental issues, like scalability. I also pointed out something (learning about auto-indexing) that will make the questioner's life easier and code more readable. That is what helps people grow as developers -- not cliches that carry the subtext "you idiot".

When you get right down to it that's what I really like to do: help people grow. Whether it's on this forum or in the LV classes I teach, I always try to remember that we are all newbies at times and that we grow beyond that lowly state thanks to the grace of people who are willing to take the time with us.

Mike...

[Christian Mergl]

Guys,

Thanks for your feedback.

But what I tried to figure out is that most people come to forum with questions like: "Here is my VI, why doesn't it work?". And thats not the correct way to get help here or discuss problems. I'm an AE in Germany and in contact with a lot of different customers and applications every day (and their are realy a lot) and I'm also teaching LabVIEW and other NI courses for a long time. Out of this I can say that if you give the newbie LV users immediatly help and correct their issues they will go on with asking for every little problem without learning. That's why I wanted him to debug first, which he didn't!

I think this is enough on this topic. We have different views maybe because we are working with LabVIEW Users in a different way, anyway just go on helping them!

Christian