Java vs Labview

[dmelcer9]

We used to be a Labview team, but we switched to Java for a few reasons.

My top 10 reasons for using Java (in no particular order):

1. As others have mentioned, APCS teaches Java.
2. Java comes pre-installed on most school computers, and eclipse has a portable version of Java if necessary.
3. No license keys, no activations, no 2-hour installations, just pure, open-source bliss.
4. The job market for Java programmers is way bigger than that for LV programmers.
5. Git.
6. The computers could barely handle labview. The code took a solid 15 minutes to compile and deploy.
7. We found that Java has a lower learning curve once you start to use complex data structures. Variables in LV =
8. Labview code quickly becomes spaghetti. With command-based programming and robotbuilder, Java is pretty nice.
9. The programming mentor knows Java.
10. Better external library support.

While LV has the advantage of being better for vision processing, there are other solutions that work, too (Roborealm, OpenCV running on RasPi or Jetson, GRIP, etc.). We haven't tried C++ because nobody on the team really knows it well, and the programmers are all trained in Java now already.