[Help Needed] Transitioning to Object Oriented Programming

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Foster

So not to be a stickler for words but "visual programming and object oriented" are two different concepts.

Originally Posted by Phoenix Spud

Absolutely! My project looks at how to help students transition between these different paradigms. A number of researchers have noted this transition is difficult (as I think many FIRST alumni like myself know first hand) but there is very little information on why this is difficult.

I don't think you understand. The concepts of "visual programming" and "object oriented" are not choices on the same scale. They are separate and unrelated. There is no such thing as transitioning between them; each can be used, or not, independent of the other.

The "difficult transition" you are positing is probably between procedural and dataflow languages, or perhaps between non-object-oriented and object-oriented ones. Talking about visual programming in this context is only a distraction.

[Larry Lewis]

LabVIEW and Object Oriented programming are not separate concepts. You can do object oriented programming in LabVIEW using LabVIEW classes. The classes have common attributes desired in OOP such as abstraction layers, data encapsulation, and inheritance.
I would suggest reading up on how NI implemented OOP in LabVIEW and get familiar with classes to see if it can work for your application.

Here is a white paper on the topic: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/3574/en/

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I don't think you understand. The concepts of "visual programming" and "object oriented" are not choices on the same scale. They are separate and unrelated. There is no such thing as transitioning between them; each can be used, or not, independent of the other.

Thanks, that was the point I was trying to make.

Originally Posted by Larry Lewis

LabVIEW and Object Oriented programming are not separate concepts. You can do object oriented programming in LabVIEW using LabVIEW classes. The classes have common attributes desired in OOP such as abstraction layers, data encapsulation, and inheritance.

LabVIEW is a data flow language that they have bolted some OO programming features onto. So it is becoming more of a hybrid an attempt to be all things to all people.