LabVIEW for C/C++/Java Programmers

[Greg McKaskle]

Let's say that you know base-ten numbers. You learn basic arithmetic, multiplication tables, decimals, fractions, all in base-ten. As far as you know, this is the only way to do math and you are on top of it. Go you.

Then a new teacher, say the CS teacher, decides to teach you base-eight numbers. It is weird. Many of the things you know about math are not necessarily correct. Everything is slow, you make many mistakes, and really just want to pretend this never existed.

Next the teacher brings up base-16, even weirder, and then base-2. Finally things start to click and you realize that there is nothing magic about base-ten, all of these are arbitrary, and there are benefits to knowing more than one system.

A similar analogy to Cartesian coordinate system versus spherical, versus cylindrical, ..., also fits. True, a language is more complex than a mathematical convention, but the point is that many times, the second way to solve a problem is more difficult to learn than the first. That doesn't mean that there was an issue with either of them, but it is simply human nature and is a natural process. Once you get over that hump, the benefits of knowing two mean three and four come far easier.

Greg McKaskle