Java vs Labview

[JohnFogarty]

We teach our students java because it's the AP standard in Computer Science courses taught to high school students who choose to take the course across the US. Also, speaking from experience here, Java was the first language taught when I entered university as a freshman Computer Engineering student. Java is more widely used throughout the world in various computing fields than LabVIEW is at the moment. Therefore I find it to be much more "useful" to my students to have it in their skill-set.

Not to knock on LabVIEW since I myself started out programming in LabVIEW. However when it came down to editing small portions of code to do exactly what I wanted them to do, I found that it was much easier to do in Java. Plus I didn't have any software mentor support at all when I started FRC programming. I used the internet resources like Chief Delphi to find my way.

While I know that there are many jobs that you can get with knowledge of a language like LabVIEW, I would definitely say there are a multitude more for those with a background in Java. The automation and commercial industries seem to be taking an interest in LabVIEW because of it's easier to understand logical and graphical interface, but for someone who has no problem understanding programming logic. I find LabVIEW somewhat restricting. Now had I been mentored properly using LabVIEW as my beginning language I might feel differently, but you can't change what hasn't yet happened.

Just my two cents.