Bobby,
I am curious about the engine control. How are you controlling that with LV 5? What kind of old DAQ device do you have? What computer OS works with the devices? What kind of engine? Do you have any documentation on the engine and its controller?
Some very good programmers started out as chemists or mechanical engineers and never took a computer science class. At the most basic level programming is simply telling that extremely logical device, the computer, what to do. All you need to do is to think logically and tell the computer exactly what you want it to do.
You do need to learn the language (LabVIEW in this case) and the tools it provides. It sounds like you are trying to take useful steps in that direction.
Plan or design your programs. Even little ones like the calculator. Make a list of tasks the program must perform. For each task define what inputs it needs and what outputs it produces. Then describe the algorithm, formula, or procedure it will use to generate the desired outputs from the given inputs. Last, you write the code to implement your design.
A method like this will work for programs like the calculator and can be expanded to very large, complex measurement and control systems.
Try some things. When you get stuck, post what you have along with a description of what does not work. The more specific your descriptions, the better the help you will get.
We are here to help you learn. Most of us are volunteers so you may not always get an immediate response.
Lynn
