VI Shots LabVIEW Audio Podcast

If you think you know everything there is to know about functional globals, then you're wrong. In this episode of the VI Shots podcast, Nancy Hollenback and I take functional global variables to the next level. Find out how to safely use native globals, have multiple instantiation capabilities and speed optimize your look-up tables.

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think of this episode, or if you have any questions. You can support this podcast by subscribing on iTunes (for iOS) or giving us a rating and review in the platform of your choice.

Christina Rogers is a software engineer in the LabVIEW R&D group. She primarily works under the hood of LabVIEW adding much needed features and capabilities using C++. Sometimes she dives into G code, as she did to implement the LabVIEW Getting Started window. She's worked on features that you may have not noticed. In this interview we go into some of those features and uncover a cool LabVIEW ini token that I think a lot of users will find helpful in their daily coding. We also discuss the new bookmarks feature just released in LabVIEW 2013, which is pretty awesome.

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think of this episode, or if you have any questions. You can support this podcast by subscribing on iTunes (for iOS) or giving us a rating and review in the platform of your choice.

Do you want to create a better software experience for your customers? Do you want to create maintainable code? Listen to this interview with Fabiola De la Cueva. She's a Certified LabVIEW Architect, a LabVIEW Champion and an influential voice in the LabVIEW community. In this interview, I asked Fabiola to list the five things a LabVIEW developer can do to create a better user experience for their customer.

Here is the one opening quote that Fabiola used in our discussion. I highly recommend you listen to the entire episode.

Designing the Moment by Robert Hoekman Jr.

Here is a summary of the five tips (more explanation in the podcast):

Here's a recording of the VI Shots Live panel I did way back at NIWeek 2012. You'll hear me mention in the recording that this should go live soon after NIWeek. I guess soon meant a year, because here it is. On the panel are Jack Dunaway, Justin Goeres, me, Chris Relf and Brian Powell. We all had fun recording this, I hope you enjoy it.

Thomas Bress is the author of a new book out on LabVIEW called: “Effective LabVIEW Programming”. This book was released recently and in this episode of the VI Shots podcast, I interview the author, so we can get a better understanding of how it can help you transition from the CLAD level of certification to the CLD level.

Thomas has managed to create a valuable resource for anyone that wants to transition from a basic LabVIEW coder, to a professional LabVIEW programmer that can handle complicated software project requirements. He spreads proper coding techniques and best practices throughout the book. This is knowledge that would take someone years to master on their own. I highly recommend this book for any beginner to intermediate level user who wants to take their skills to the next level.

During this past NIWeek 2013, the Raima Database API for LabVIEW was awarded the LabVIEW Tools Network Embedded Systems Product of the Year Award. I sat down with Scott Meeder who's the Director of Sales at Raima to find out what this toolkit is and how we, as LabVIEW application developers can take advantage of these capabilities in our own embedded systems.

Links to items mentioned in this podcast episode:

I had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Watts. I recorded this interview back in February, but only now had a chance to publish it. Steve has been writing industrial software for more than 25 years and began programming with LabVIEW in 1998. He is the co-owner of SSDC Ltd (Structured Software Design Consultants). His book, entitled “A Software Engineering Approach to LabVIEW” has achieved worldwide success. Some of the principles described in the book (LCOD) are still used to this day and are the easiest way to implement modular componentized reusable code. The design pattern is also know today as an action engine.

In this episode I dive into the world of Lego robotics and specifically, I learn about a new version of the Mindstorms educational robotic toy from Lego. At this past consumer electronics show (CES) in January, Lego announced and displayed the Mindstorms EV3. Also, this past NIWeek 2013, I saw a demo of the new EV3 programming environment (based on LabVIEW). This is the next generation of the previous Mindstorms NXT and the first major revamp of the platform since around 2006. The last updated was in 2009. The new Mindstorms EV3 has several enhancements, including an improved p-brick and improved sensors. However it’s also the first version of the brick to run embedded Linux. Which in itself is pretty exciting.

Just as in previous versions of the Robotic kit, National Instruments continues the collaboration with Lego in this new version. They're releasing a new programming environment for the EV3 which is improved and should make programming much easier than before.

Guests:

Below you can see a video of the EV3 demo at NIWeek 2013. If you look at the programming environment demo, you will notice some great usability features. For example, you can see the configuration of each block without having to bring up any popup dialogs. Also, you might not notice it in the video, but at 8:10, David zooms out on the diagram to get a better view of the program. The audience breaks out in applause to which Ray Almgren responds with: “It's coming someday”. Obviously referring to the fact that you can't do zooming out in your code in LabVIEW. Many people have asked for this feature over the years and NI has yet to deliver on it.

In the podcast, I asked Greg Mckaskle if any of the enhancements delivered to the EV3 software development environment will transfer over to core LabVIEW. His response gave me some hope that we might see these down the road.

Links to more information:

NIWeek 2013 is over and one of the biggest announcements was the release of LabVIEW 2013 with over 100 new features. In addition, a new cRIO-9068 controller which runs the Linux operating system, was announced. Now, a LabVIEW developer can tap into the vast community of Linux libraries available.

In this podcast episode I chat with Grant Heimbach and Jonah Paul as we run through some of the top features in LabVIEW 2013 in addition to the new cRIO controller.

I've long anticipated this interview with Brian Powell. The impetus for this interview was a series of blog articles Brian wrote recently. BTW, I suggest everyone go to labviewjournal.com and read the entire series he wrote there.

Brian of course is well known as one of the original team members that helped bring LabVIEW 2.0 to market as a software engineer. His vast experience with working with LabVIEW teams shows in this interview, which is packed with wisdom. We discuss the following topics:

Visit LabVIEWJournal.com for more.