[ebarker]

We are talking several subjects here.

a) what is a good way to educate students about programming?
b) what should a FRC control system look like?
c) what is the value, or best use of Labview?

These answers may, or may NOT have common ground.

20 years ago I ran an engineering group that developed a system for internal use in our company. shortly thereafter Labview 1.0 came out and it had basically the same objectives as our system.

There is a very firm case that can be made for using Labview in certain type of environments. Probably the best case is where you have to lash together a lot of instrumentation, or control components to quickly put together some sort of system. Prior to these types of products a company or agency would literally spend millions of dollars and years integrating these systems together.

Yes, if you get good at Labview, there are plenty of jobs. A good starting point for a motivated student is to redo the CMU app.

Would I like Labview for a robot controller? No, I do not think it is appropriate for use in the FRC community as a robot controller. I'd prefer to see ANSI C for that task.

Something that National might want to think about is helping students focus on a more narrow use of Labview in the form of a contest and provide incentive with an award, much like Autodesk does with the animation and documentation awards.