Is switching from LabVIEW a bad idea?

[FrankJ]

With the way things move in the computer world.... I can just about guarantee the programming tool you learn in high school will not be the one you use through out your career. In terms of learning the logic of programming any of the programming languages work. The rest is just syntax & pointers.

In the industrial world. You will have to learn whatever programming tool the machines in your plant are using. When you change jobs as most of you will, you likely will be learning another tool.

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Having experience with C/C++ will arguably help them be employable as embedded software developers. If that's what they want to do, great. It'll certainly give them more options.

LabVIEW is the sort of programming environment that gets used by "just plain engineers" who don't do software as a primary job function. Knowing how to use it is a major plus in a wide variety of careers. It's also tremendously powerful for "real programmers" who want to take advantage of the wide availability of toolkits for many applications.

<snip>

I have applied to a ton of CS jobs and internships in the past three years since coming to college. I'd have to say that the most popular desired/required programming languages for any of these positions includes C/C++ and/or Java (other popular languages would be python/perl/any of the popular scripting languages and some of the web-based ones). For students who wish to go on and pursue a degree and a career in computer science, I think using C++ or Java is most beneficial.

For students whose primary interest lies in engineering, I could see the benefits of knowing LabVIEW. However, I have many friends in the engineering school here at UMD (one of the top public universities for engineering and CS), and many of the different engineering disciplines require a computing/software class. There's an Aerospace Computing class for the aerospace engineering students that teaches C++ and MATLAB. MechEs also have a software class that focuses on MATLAB. The same is true for Civil.

Basically, in the countless job applications and interviews that I (a CS major) and my engineer friends have encountered, LabVIEW has never once come up.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

Basically, in the countless job applications and interviews that I (a CS major) and my engineer friends have encountered, LabVIEW has never once come up.

Allow me to offer a counterpoint, I have encountered numerous jobs where having LabVIEW on my resume was helpful to me. But I also list C/C++, Python, Ruby, Java, and a handful of other languages I've picked up over the years.


As for the topic, if your mentor force (or students) feel more comfortable working in or helping with another language switch to that one. If they don't have a preference any of the languages will teach programming concepts equally well. LV might also have a benefit in that most students will never take a course on it. Most of this comes down to preference though.

[GBilletdeaux930]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

With the way things move in the computer world.... I can just about guarantee the programming tool you learn in high school will not be the one you use through out your career. In terms of learning the logic of programming any of the programming languages work. The rest is just syntax & pointers.

In the industrial world. You will have to learn whatever programming tool the machines in your plant are using. When you change jobs as most of you will, you likely will be learning another tool.

This.

It is my belief that FIRST is about giving kids a head start in College and maybe in their desired field. In a good software curriculum, students will be taught software theories, not shoving tons of languages at them. They will be taught how to design software using UML and various design patterns. They will be taught to make readable and reusable code.

Using the lingo of Championships, learning a ton of languages will get you a job. Learning the theory of programming will get you a career.

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

With the way things move in the computer world.... I can just about guarantee the programming tool you learn in high school will not be the one you use through out your career. In terms of learning the logic of programming any of the programming languages work. The rest is just syntax & pointers.

In the industrial world. You will have to learn whatever programming tool the machines in your plant are using. When you change jobs as most of you will, you likely will be learning another tool.

C has been around since the 70s and C++ came out in the early 80s. Java was released in 1995. Perl and python came around the late 80s with Ruby following sometime in the mid-90s.

Many places still use these languages. Of course, there have been significant updates to them over the years, but they're all still around.

I guess this basically sums up my thoughts on this thread:

As a computer science student, never once have I wished that I could go back in time and learn LabVIEW. I have, however, been thankful many times for having a background in C/C++ and Java before entering college.

[techhelpbb]

Well I know as far as language longevity is concerned, someone pinch me when GCC is no longer important:

http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/History
http://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html
http://gcc.gnu.org/