LabVIEW for C/C++/Java Programmers

[timothyb89]

(Long build-up warning, the actual question is at the bottom!)

To start off, the programmers on our team have pretty solid "conventional" coding experience with C/C++/Java. Last year, when we first got our hands on the cRIO and dev tools, we initially sided with C++, but after some frustration, switched over to the LabVIEW environment hoping for smoother sailing.

After a couple weeks of tinkering with it, myself and the other programmer at the time found that we were never "really" able to wrap our heads around it, and the code we managed to produce certainly reflected that (we've successfully used it to scare people, including ourselves). When the competition finally came around, there was a quick rewrite of everything in C++ because it simply didn't work. Needless to say, we had better luck the second time around.

So... clearly we're bad LabVIEW coders . Still, I couldn't help but notice how many other teams (ie, the vast majority or FIRST) had little to no problems working with it. So my question is this: has anyone else had trouble "figuring out" LabVIEW when coming from a so-called "conventional" programming background?

(Side note: obviously, had we devoted the time necessary to truly understand it, this problem never would have existed. I'm just asking if others have had similar experiences)