How complete are the C++ libraries compared to the LV libraries?

[tdlrali]

Hey all,

What is the feature list of the environments? Are things like the camera and the dashboard supported in both?
I believe I read that the dashboard is not implemented in the C++ environment yet?
What about the camera - how complete is the feature set in C++ compared to LV?

Overall, how do the two environments compare, and how will they compare once they are both out of beta?

Thanks,
Felix N

[Kevin Sevcik]

Once they're out of beta, they should be largely the same. The major components are already largely complete in both environments. Camera functionality is comparable between the two, though they're using different libraries. As of the last release, there were a few minor differences between the two. C++ doesn't have an SPI class implemented yet, while Labview has some basic SPI support. Both have raw I2C support, but C++ has a class for supporting the Lego NXT HiTechnic Compass while Labview doesn't. The C++ libraries don't support user data back to the DS yet, but I expect they will support it in the next release, as it's a relatively simple task. The complicated part will be for the user to properly format the data to make it readable by the Dashboard program on the other end.

I think that by the kickoff and/or release of the "final" versions of the libraries, support for peripherals will be pretty much equal. If the C++ library has support for spawning Tasks by then, then whatever you do in one environment should be achievable in the other.

The only differences that will likely remain after the library updates will be in debugging and CVS support. Labview is and will remain an easier to debug system, as you can probe values online in real time as well as set breakpoints, etc. C++ has a standard-ish GDB debugger that will work well, if not quite so well as Labview. On the other hand, the C++ IDE supports versioning with subversion, and various subversion clients. It will give you full version control, along with code merging, etc. Labview supports basic file versioning, but no code merging or anything like that.

So, if you're attempting to make a decision, you should probably base it on which language you're more comfortable with, and the tradeoff between easy debugging or robust code versioning support.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

By nature it is more difficult to use the C++ libraries. The auto completion in Eclipse helps a bit, but there is still things you need to know/look up. The LabView context help is very useful, as well as the ability to create constants and controls off of data pins on the VI's.

I've already had to dig through documentation to find constants and data types to feed C++ methods. It's not a terrible pain, but right clicking on a VI and adding a context specific control is much, much easier.

For example, heres two things that take 2 seconds to configure in LabView that I had to dig up in C++:
-Inverting a motor on a "simple" drive setup
-Using a jaguar on a "simple" drive setup

[tdlrali]

Thanks alot, exactly what I was looking for
The debugging doesn't seem to be that big of a problem, breakpoints should get the job done. Plus, as soon as dashboard is implemented, that should give us a way to probe values live.

Thanks again.