Java vs Labview

[wt200999]

Originally Posted by David Lame

The thing is that if you have to go beyond the basics of LabVIEW, then you have to learn beyond the basics of LabVIEW, and that tends to chip away at the great benefit of LabVIEW, which is its ease of use and quick learning curve.

This is another point that I must disagree with. I don't think the basics or ease of use of LabVIEW are its biggest strengths. I don't even think it is that much easier to teach/learn compared to most other text based languages. In some cases early on I think it is tougher, specifically the data flow idea versus the sequential flow of a typical text language. And the requirement to learn beyond the basics is true in any language, I don't know why LabVIEW should be any different.

The biggest benefits for using LabVIEW are that the complex things are easier (and quicker) to do. This is really where the strengths of LabVIEW start coming out, especially in the context of FRC. It is built to allow rapid development of complex systems. NI would be hard pressed to find customers if their only selling point was that the basics are easy.

Originally Posted by David Lame

Of course that "learning curve" thing is highly variable depending on who is doing the teaching. If you have a good instructor available who knows how to do sophisticated things in LabVIEW, then the students' learning curve gets easier.

I agree, and my default recommendations for teams that are unsure on which language to use is to go with what their mentors know. Though for teams who want a challenge, learning more than one of the FRC languages is always a plus.