LabVIEW

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Stack Exchange

Hi All,

 

Being a LabVIEW user for about 10 years, the quality of the LabVIEW forum has always been a big selling point to me.  However, I can't help but notice that Stack Exchange has become really popular over the past number of years.

 

LabVIEW does not feature on it at all with only 837 posts versus over a million on the forum!  In my opinion, this is a direct consequence of the brilliance of the forums.  In this case, it's almost as if the excellence of the forums is defeating LabVIEW appearing on Stack exchange.

 

I think it is important to have a LabVIEW presence on stack exchange as it helps bring more people into the LabVIEW eco-system who are aware of the forums.

 

There's a new stack exchange LabVIEW proposal here and I think it would be great to get more people behind it in order to broaden the appeal of LabVIEW.

 

Who's with me?

Message 1 of 36
(11,733 Views)

Actually, I'd rather have most of the posts concentrated here.  The main advantage is that NI AEs regularly patrol these forums so it's almost like free tech support.  In fact, I think posting bugs to the forum is an official way to report a bug.

 

I hear what you're saying, but maybe the reason why it isn't big on Stack Exchange is because no one feels the need for a large LabVIEW presence there.

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
Message 2 of 36
(11,699 Views)

-1

aputman
------------------
Heads up! NI has moved LabVIEW to a mandatory SaaS subscription policy, along with a big price increase. Make your voice heard.
0 Kudos
Message 3 of 36
(11,692 Views)

Hi Bilko,

 

I have to respectfully disagree.  Look at the language rankings:

 

https://spectrum.ieee.org/static/interactive-the-top-programming-languages-2017

 

LabVIEW is 33rd and Matlab 15th.  Click on the trending tab to see an even more worrying statistic.  Having worked in both, I prefer LabVIEW and don't agree with that ranking but nonetheless that is the reality IEEE are presenting.

 

LabVIEW questions on Stack Overflow : 837

Matlab question on Stack Overfloe : 75,106

 

We need to fight for LabVIEW.  There's no point burying over heads in a safe zone, we need to get out there in the real world and introduce potential new adopters to LabVIEW.

 

Another bonus is, if you got 200 points on the LabVIEW stack exchange then you would get an additional 100 points on every other stack.  That's pretty useful!

Message 4 of 36
(11,664 Views)

@SeanJ wrote:

 

We need to fight for LabVIEW.  There's no point burying over heads in a safe zone, we need to get out there in the real world and introduce potential new adopters to LabVIEW.

 

 


Will an increased LabVIEW presence on StackExchange really make more people aware of LabVIEW?  Stack Exchange is huge.  When people have an issue, they tend to google and will find relevant posts that show up on Stack Exchange.  I don't get the sense that anyone goes there to randomly browse around and say "Hey, here's a section on LabVIEW.  I wonder what that is? Let me learn more about it!"

 

The only people who would go to Stack Exchange to ask about or read about LabVIEW are going to be people who already know what it is, and would have long since known about these discussion forums.

0 Kudos
Message 5 of 36
(11,653 Views)

Hi Ravens,

 

StackExchange is a bit more like a resume of work.  It's something that employers recognize more and more.  Getting started in stackoverflow isn't easy as most of the low hanging fruit is gone.  Easy questions have been asked and that means people have to dig.

 

People do actually go to stackoverflow to answer and ask questions specifically to build up reputation so that they can do things on stackoverflow.  For example, if you have a really tough problem, you can put a bounty of 50 points on it.

 

There are 223,656 people with over 500 reputation points on stackoverflow alone.

 

Starting a stack for LabVIEW would give LabVIEW users a platform on which to develop a SE presence.  Remember 200 points on a LabVIEW SE translates to 100 points on every SE site, (including electrical engineering)

 

SE is different to a discussion forum.  It is Q&A only.  It will not mean the death of the ni forums but rather give another space for LabVIEW users to talk. 

 

I'm not saying it is the fix but the below table needs to change and should change:

 

https://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/IEEE_TPL_2017/index/2017/1/1/1/1/1/5/1/75/1/50/1/100/1/50/1/75/1/75/1/7...

 

LabVIEW is an excellent programming language, needs more exposure and more new adopters.

 

This is worth a shot, imho.

 

-Seán

0 Kudos
Message 6 of 36
(11,621 Views)

@SeanJ wrote:

Hi Ravens,

 

StackExchange is a bit more like a resume of work.  It's something that employers recognize more and more.  Getting started in stackoverflow isn't easy as most of the low hanging fruit is gone.  Easy questions have been asked and that means people have to dig.

 

People do actually go to stackoverflow to answer and ask questions specifically to build up reputation so that they can do things on stackoverflow.  For example, if you have a really tough problem, you can put a bounty of 50 points on it.

 

There are 223,656 people with over 500 reputation points on stackoverflow alone.

 

Starting a stack for LabVIEW would give LabVIEW users a platform on which to develop a SE presence.  Remember 200 points on a LabVIEW SE translates to 100 points on every SE site, (including electrical engineering)

 

SE is different to a discussion forum.  It is Q&A only.  It will not mean the death of the ni forums but rather give another space for LabVIEW users to talk. 

 

I'm not saying it is the fix but the below table needs to change and should change:

 

https://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/IEEE_TPL_2017/index/2017/1/1/1/1/1/5/1/75/1/50/1/100/1/50/1/75/1/75/1/7...

 

LabVIEW is an excellent programming language, needs more exposure and more new adopters.

 

This is worth a shot, imho.

 

-Seán


Oh, I see what you are talking about.  There was this place I used to go a long time ago that was similar.  You earn points by having your post marked as the solution, plus they graded your solution, too.  I think they issued badges based on your point totals.  If I understand what you are talking about, I'll have to re-qualify my answer.  It may turn out to be the same answer, but I have to re-think it.

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
0 Kudos
Message 7 of 36
(11,599 Views)

 I think this plea will mostly reach people answering questions.

 

To get SE going (regardless if that is a good idea or not), there need to be more people asking questions. Not sure you're reaching those people.

 

I'm sure when\if more questions are asked on SE, more people will start answering. 🐔 \ egg situation, but not sure what I could do to help (if I decided I wanted to).

0 Kudos
Message 8 of 36
(11,568 Views)

I like Tim Locke's comment on the top programming languages forum: popularity is rarely linked to quality...

0 Kudos
Message 9 of 36
(11,565 Views)

They measure the popularity by counting nr. of hits Google gives on "X programming". X being the language.

 

So if we all put "LabVIEW programming" in our signature, we'll be on top in no time!

0 Kudos
Message 10 of 36
(11,562 Views)