Got my CLD!

[z2830than]

I just found out that I obtained my CLD! I want to thanks those on the boards here for all the great advice in preparing for the exam. It was defnintely hard, but I pulled through it.

Jody

[mallorim]

Congrats!

-Mallori

[yenknip]

Well done!

[LV_Pro]

Very Well Done and welcome to the "Club"!

[vijay.kumar]

Hi,

Congrats. As a fresh CLD, what's your advice to the candidates who are appearing for the CLD exam.

Regards,

Vijay

[z2830than]

Vijay,

Here are some things I recommend for anyone preparing for the CLD:

1. Make sure you do all the practice exams from NI. They have a mix of different things that can very well appear on the exam.

2. I would recommend picking one or two of those practice exams, and do them without timing yourself. This way you can find your problem areas and work on them. Try to do the rest well under the time limit. I felt that the exam was actually more challenging than the practice exams.

3.It is also important to be able to speed read the exam, or skim over the main points before starting. I have known others who have taken too much time reading everything before starting the write code. This caused them to fail.

4.As many others have said on this forum. It is absolutely critical that you document everything as you go along. This a big part of the overall grade. Label wires, tip strips, and VI documentation are a huge plus.

5.Make sure that you have proper programming methods. Examples would be: not using express VIs, no excessive local variables, no unnecessary wire bends, etc... This is also a big portion of your grade.

6.If you are unable to finish the exam, make sure you do not leave the VI with a broken arrow. This may also give you a failing grade. It has been said that you can get all your code and documentation points, and you would only need 5 functionality points to pass.

7.Some things to know inside and out: Writing to/from a file, arrays and clusters, timing functions. it also wouldnt hurt to ensure you have a good understanding of Event structures.

8.Try to keep your code writing as simple as possible. The state machine design is always a good structure to master.

9.If you run across a problem that is not easy to solve, try to work around it and get all the easy coding done, and then come back to that point, if time permits. It is critical that you do not lose time staring at the screen wondering what to do next.

10.One more thing, if you feel you will not be able to finish the exam, it may be worthwhile to write additional text to the unfinished areas noting to the grader what you had planned to do had you not run out of time.

Sincerely,

Jody

[Silver_Shaper]

Hey Congrats Man...

Really your tips will help a lot.. Hope me too gonna be a CLD in a month..

[SteveChandler]

Congrats! Next step - CLA!

As for the suggestion about not taking too much time reading the spec, that is a good point but make sure you have a good understanding of it before writing any code.

Understand the modules you will need and how they will fit together. Understand the data types you will need (clusters and enums) and create typedefs for them. Create the VIs for these modules, do a very quick icon and fill in the documentation property. Put your controls and indicators on the VIs and wire the connector pane - no coding yet. Create the documentation on the block diagram - still no coding! It might help you later and definately would not hurt your score to put section numbers from the spec in block diagram comments. Save the VIs.

Connect your modules together on your top level VI and comment as necessary. Don't forget to create an icon for the top level VI and fill in it's documentation property! Create tip-strips for all the controls and indicators.

You now have an application with some empty VIs all wired together with nice context help and icons. At this stage you should already have have all of your documentation points.

Now you just have to make the VIs do what you said they were going to do in the descriptions. You have broken it down into small documented chunks. Since you have done it this way you will not have to refer to the spec (as much) while you are coding. If you previously put the section number that the function of this VI is related to it will help you quickly go right to it if you need to clarify something.

Anyway this might or might not work for you. Just try doing the sample exams like this and see if it helps.

[z2830than]

I plan on trying the CLA next year 🙂

[george.sterpu]

Hello.

I just passed the CLAD exam yesterday and I'm looking forward to prepare for the CLD.

• How should I start the training?
• Are there any (open-source) projects I should get involved in order to gain experience?
• Which reading material would you recommend besides Labview Core 3 ? (I find it overrated and look forward to borrow other books from the library or through my university's subscription, or just free online tutorials)
• Can one simply take the exam online? I noticed there are not any training centers nearby.

Thanks for any answer.