How to master LabVIEW quickly and have a good command of LabVIEW

[zkycekong]

   Hi,

   I am a new learner of LabVIEW,and I need help.Please tell me how to master  LabVIEW quickly and have a good command of LabVIEW,and where I can get some resources,like some videos and some books.Thanks!

[NapDynamite]

Dear kong,

Mastering something quickly creates a disaster in epic proportions. In order to learn, you first need to play with it a little bit, explore the amazing realities of LabVIEW and when you're done with it, check online tutorials and webcasts over NI web.
Following links might come in handy.

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/7466/en/

https://www.ni.com/gettingstarted/labviewbasics/

Regards.

[alice77]

I read this message when I am in current impatient mind. I know that this could not be done quickly. I have to learn from basics to practical problems. The reason I need to learn LabVIEW is that I am working in a lab where the most critical instruments are built and coded by our own. I am still new to LabVIEW and the code is written by former Ph.D. student here. Recently, I am suffering from a huge difficulty in getting my electrochemical exp data since the code is problematic. But I haven't realized this.  We don't have a good knowledge pass on in our group and the code is kind of crude to deal with my future extremely high precision experiments.

Really hope I can get through this.

[Steffen01]

diesect the existing code. Make sub vis. Try them. You can only learn by doing. For lots of things you can find code snippets somewhere, you just have to massage them to suit you. Maybe read a view Labview books. Or do a short training course, if your employer is happy to pay. Not cheap.

[Bob_Schor]

In my opinion (and experience), the surest and fastest way to learn LabVIEW and good LabVIEW Style/Habits (which are some of the things that separates Good from Bad LabVIEW Code) is to find a LabVIEW Guru (someone who is good at LabVIEW Development) and apprentice yourself to them for a few months.  Not days, probably not weeks.

Do you already have programming experience in some other system (Basic, C, Java, etc.)?  Do you write "good code" (meaning "If you show your program to someone else who knows something about the Language, would they understa"nd it and would they think it was well-written")?

How much LabVIEW code have you written?  How much of your LabVIEW code have you shown to someone else and asked for their opinion?  Did they immediately understand what it did?  Was it documented?  Did it fit on a single screen (so you could "grasp" the entire program without scrolling everywhere and losing track of the wires)?  Do you feel confident that you could pass one or more of the LabVIEW Certification Exams?

Bob Schor

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@alice77 wrote:

I read this message when I am in current impatient mind. I know that this could not be done quickly. I have to learn from basics to practical problems. The reason I need to learn LabVIEW is that I am working in a lab where the most critical instruments are built and coded by our own. I am still new to LabVIEW and the code is written by former Ph.D. student here. Recently, I am suffering from a huge difficulty in getting my electrochemical exp data since the code is problematic. But I haven't realized this.  We don't have a good knowledge pass on in our group and the code is kind of crude to deal with my future extremely high precision experiments.

Really hope I can get through this.

---

Unfortunately, I see this type of situation a lot.

You are expected to be an expert in your field but you are expected to be good at LabVIEW.

Your superiors have unrealistic expectations.

They should be hiring a LabVIEW programmer to do the programming and letting you do the research.

There is no "quick" way to master LabVIEW.

You can quickly get something to work one time.

Programming something that is malleable is something else.

[Bob_Schor]

Alice,

     Many of us have "been there", inheriting bloated, undocumented code that may-or-may-not work, but certainly doesn't do exactly what we want/need.  When I was starting to learn LabVIEW, I had such a monster handed to me (hundreds of VIs, no documentation, none of the VIs documented).  I spent a while trying to learn the code, make minor changes/fixes, but it was a real pain.

     Fortunately, I had some prior Programming Experience (Pascal, Matlab), knew about good Software Design, read Peter Blume's The LabVIEW Style Book cover-to-cover four times, so decided to Byte the Bullet and Start Over.  I was going to say that I "completely redesigned" the software, but it would be better to say "I Designed" the software, including new Data Structures, new Control Schemes, new User Interfaces (simpler), simpler (and better) use of the Hardware, and ended up with a system that ran twice as fast, was much easier for the User to design Experiments and analyze the data, and didn't fail (the earlier system would document "missing data" in about 10% of the data records).

The key step is to Learn LabVIEW, and to Learn Good LabVIEW Programming Habits (not the least being to use some form of Version Control System, and use it all the time).  If you can, find a LabVIEW Guru whom you can ask for advice and guidance.

Bob Schor 

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

Alice,

     Many of us have "been there", inheriting bloated, undocumented code that may-or-may-not work, but certainly doesn't do exactly what we want/need.  When I was starting to learn LabVIEW, I had such a monster handed to me (hundreds of VIs, no documentation, none of the VIs documented).  I spent a while trying to learn the code, make minor changes/fixes, but it was a real pain.

     Fortunately, I had some prior Programming Experience (Pascal, Matlab), knew about good Software Design, read Peter Blume's The LabVIEW Style Book cover-to-cover four times, so decided to Byte the Bullet and Start Over.  I was going to say that I "completely redesigned" the software, but it would be better to say "I Designed" the software, including new Data Structures, new Control Schemes, new User Interfaces (simpler), simpler (and better) use of the Hardware, and ended up with a system that ran twice as fast, was much easier for the User to design Experiments and analyze the data, and didn't fail (the earlier system would document "missing data" in about 10% of the data records).

The key step is to Learn LabVIEW, and to Learn Good LabVIEW Programming Habits (not the least being to use some form of Version Control System, and use it all the time).  If you can, find a LabVIEW Guru whom you can ask for advice and guidance.

Bob Schor 

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Yeah, trying to do the complete re-design while the OP's boss wants results from her research now.

The problem with Alice's situation is that LabVIEW is tool for her "real" work. She shouldn't have to learn how to build a good wrench if she is a plumber.  I once worked a contract job where I built the tool used by the hardware engineer to do their work. Worked out beautifully.

I am not saying that Alice shouldn't learn how to write better LabVIEW code. The issue is that shouldn't be her primary concern and she may not have the time to learn to be a better LabVIEW programmer.

.

[Bob_Schor]

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@nyc_(is_out_of_here) wrote:

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@Bob_SchorYeah, trying to do the complete re-design while the OP's boss wants results from her research now.

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Aside from the fact that Alice is not the OP, I'm in complete agreement.  However, it is too bad that there's not an "alternative Learning Forum" where people like Alice can go to learn some Tools and Practices that would give them a chance to at least honestly evaluate Crude Code, possibly clean it up a bit, and then go to the Professor/Supervisor and say "This really needs 3-6 months of a good Developer's Efforts to make this (a) work, (b) be modifiable (by us), (c) be maintainable (by us), and (d) be understandable (by us)".  

Bob Schor

[Steffen01]

we started from scratch. Got a sub contractor to do the skeleton/hard work. Could use some sub vis and some settings. In the mean time I started learning it and posted quite a few questions.

I suppose OP should become friends with state machines. Maybe can find similar drivers to copy from.