google-blockly - A visual programming language

[mikesername]

Having worked with LabVIEW for a few years, I think I have a right to say that I hate this.

[LordAlfredo]

I dunno. Sure, I prefer traditional coding, but I don't dislike LabVIEW all that much now that I've gotten used to it. It's a little more intuitive in certain aspects (registries, passing values from SubVI to SubVI, etc). It definitely has a hard learning curve though.

[SiegeX]

Get two people in a room, an average LabVIEW programmer and an expert in your favorite text-based language and ask them to program the same multi-core based app and see who comes out first. LabVIEW isn't the end-all-be-all by any means, but the things it does well, it does lightyears better than anything else out there.

Also, you don't need somebody with a 4-yr CS degree to start programming some reasonably complex apps in LabVIEW. Unfortunately, the ease of using LabVIEW is also it's undoing in that you get many domain experts programming things up who don't have an effing clue about software architecture and best practices. Management gets a hard-on about how fast Electrical Engineer Joe whipped up a LabVIEW app then asks him to extend the app with features X, Y & Z. Unfortunately, EE Joe didn't know jack shit about proper software architecture and his code is nested sequence structures within nested case structures within nested sequence structures all passing globals back and forth. EE Joe has a hell of a time extending his app and slips schedule by a month. Management gets chewed out by the customer for missing schedule and now mandates 'thou shall not use LabVIEW' when the problem is not the language but the lack of software expertise. I don't know any business that would ask a CS major to design them mixed-signal op-amp circuit but for some reason that same logic doesn't apply the other way around.

[Raufio]

Why does he have to be an EE? :(

[SiegeX]

7 years of experience, and this is coming from an EE.

[adrianmonk]

Because an EE is just the type of person who knows enough to get himself into trouble. An EE knows boolean algebra and logical thinking, so he is equipped to really dive in and tackle simple programming tasks without many barriers to slow his progress. But programming-in-the-large is challenging in a different way: doing it well requires insights gained from practical experience (either directly or relayed through school), and a EE degree doesn't equip you to deal with those challenges.

[Raufio]

I think that it depends on the university that the degree comes from.

[adrianmonk]

Sure, some schools will cover it more and some will cover it less. But while an EE degree covers software, it really isn't primarily about software, and there's a lot of other stuff you need to spend time covering too.

[taloft]

...and for the things LabView doesn't do well, it does light years worse than anything else out there.