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BreakPoint
CLD-R concerns
I have just recertified on the CLD-R exam.
I work with LabVIEW daily and I do some advanced stuff with it.
If I would not study thought the availible exams I would FAIL.
It is absolutely essential to run though the preparation exams to take this exam.
If you do that, and you have strong knowledge of LabVIEW you have a high chance of success.
Some questions are however totaly ridiculous.
Example ( and this is on the preparation exams I do not remember if it is first or second)
List Folder function. How will it behave when you wire an empty string to it.
What will be the output of FileName, and FolderNames and Error Cluster.
You're asked to choose from 4 things out of which all seem reasonable:
And the real answer is:
FileName will be empty string, Folder names will be letters of Drives , error cluster will be ( No error )
Ok file name makes sence, Letters of Hard Drives - How is that intuitive? , error cluster will be no error .... OK ? ... am I supposed to memorize LV chm file?
This makes the exam hard, but means a monkey can cram up and pass it.
An experienced Developer without preparation will not pass this soley based on experience with LabVIEW becaouse you won't remember all the details in that are in the help file.
And compared to CLAD it is really CLAD on Steroids!!!
This is my honest opinion.
Regards,
Maciej
Mac671 wrote:List Folder function. How will it behave when you wire an empty string to it.
What will be the output of FileName, and FolderNames and Error Cluster.
This is ambiguious, because there are four inputs and only the "pattern" is a string. The question does not say which input and it does not say what is connected to the other inputs. Only the datalog type input also accepts a string, the path and error inputs don't.
Could it be that the question actually was about wiring an empty path?
@Mac671 wrote:
An experienced Developer without preparation will not pass this soley based on experience with LabVIEW becaouse you won't remember all the details in that are in the help file.
Yes he will, because you don't need 100% to pass.
Hi,
I pasted the question out of my head as I remembered it here is a copy and paste from NI Exam Preparation Booklet:
37. What are the output values of the List Folder function when you wire an empty path constant to the path input?
a. filenames: <empty>
folder names: <empty>
error out: Error 6: Generic file I/O error
b. filenames: All files on the primary drive
folder names: All folders on the primary drive
error out: No Error
c. filenames: <empty>
folder names: <All configured drives on the machine>
error out: No Error
d. filenames: <empty>
folder names: <empty>
error out: No Error
--------
Secondly I do not know if you've personally tried CLD-R.
If you have an hour of time take one of the CLD-R practice exams and see if without the LV development enviroment you cand do 70%.
Maciej
OK, empty path makes much more sense than empty string. 😄
I thought maybe it was a trick question 😮
Yes sorry I wrote the question as I remembered it and made a mistake.
You're wiring an empty path.
The trick is that the right answer to the question above is option C
To me that is a suprise suprise 🙂 you get Drive letters in the Folder Names output ... I thought all string outputs would be empty strings and I guessed wrong ( without LabVIEW help or experimenting with the dev environment... sorry fat chance that you remember what would happen if ... )
I get the feeling way to many of the questions are built that way.
So, I went and played with it.
HEY, what is with the browse options of path?. Creating a control from the Path terminal should use Existing Folders. 
I work in an office with three certified CVI developers, and they constantly remind me that their exam is a blend of multichoice and coding, so for their multichoice questions they have access to LabWindows and can answer those obscure questions relatively quickly.
I'm CLA and will need to take the CLA-R next year. I took the CLD-R last year before my CLA exam and was horrified at the inanity of it. Some of the questions required the most obscure knowledge, and as most have stated here it isn't truly necessary to know the answers because they become obvious the second you place down a function and try to use it/read the help. I passed the CLD-R without any revision, but in hindsight that was a naivity I can't afford. From now on I'll be studying hard before each NI recert exam I ever take!
@Thoric wrote:
I'm CLA and will need to take the CLA-R next year. I took the CLD-R last year before my CLA exam and was horrified at the inanity of it. Some of the questions required the most obscure knowledge, and as most have stated here it isn't truly necessary to know the answers because they become obvious the second you place down a function and try to use it/read the help. I passed the CLD-R without any revision, but in hindsight that was a naivity I can't afford. From now on I'll be studying hard before each NI recert exam I ever take!
I was talking to some of the NI chaps at the recent summit saying I would rather retake the 4 hour exam and demonstrate that I can architect a program than an hour's worth of fatuous multiple guess questions.
