Louis Manfredi

Not sure about the exact serial protocol these chips use, but if its I2C or SPI, take a look at NI's USB-8451. I'm using one for SPI comm with a DUT & very happy with it. (Wish I could say same of my I2S comms -- that't being somewhat of an adventure.) Best, Louis

Hi Zmarcoz: I was in a similar position to you a few years back. A few points to make: First, in (partial) answer to your specific question, a few years back I taught myself basics of C++ using Metrowerks Codewarrior U. No particular certification, but it was free web-based learning, I learned a lot, I recall even the compiler was near free. So a good place to start, first learn the stuff, then worry about the certification. From what I understand Metrowerks is sort of a thing of the past, but their parent company Freescale, still sells some of their stuff & perhaps runs the Codewarrior U. Little enough difference, I think between one flavor of C++ and another-- at least at the entry level. Second, as it turned out for me everything I did to reinvent myself made little difference in the long run.-- Getting my (no longer current) CLD certification, learning a little C++, etc. didn't really end up making that much difference for me in my search for gainful employment. Got a few consulting gigs through the CLD, was happy to be able say I wasn't totally ignorant of C, even though I never got a job as a result. The LabVIEW was almost always helpful not on its own, but as a compliment to my broad experience in the wind industry. None of the programming skills had that much to do with my ultimate return to steady employment. As it turned out, what did it for me was my skill and experience in my old industry, and friends and contacts in that industry. So here I am, working for someone I went to school with 35 years ago, working in a field I've been in off & on for 35 years. I've written maybe a few hundred lines of C or C++ code in the line of duty over those years (far less than I've written to teach myself the languages). Currently I still do some LabVIEW programming, maybe 5% of my time, but for me its just a tool, not an ends unto itself. So, maybe for you the best thing to do is to focus on the field where you have your degrees & where you've spent the most time, make sure your colleagues in that field know you've got programming skills in LabVIEW that might give you and edge, might help you to be more useful in that field. Third-- An on this point I'm most certain! Don't get panicky or down on yourself during the job hunt. Its a down economy. Its not your fault if you don't find a job, unless you give up looking. You might have to chase 20 leads (or more) to get an interview, might have to go on a half dozen inteviews (or more) to get an offer. Best to be chasing several leads at once, that way the ones that don't pan out don't hurt as much if there's other ones that still might work. I'd pretty much gone into zombie mode, putting in applications without much hope, and out of the blue my old college pal calls to see if I'm available to consult, which eventually grew into a full-time permanent position. Keep an upbeat outlook & present an upbeat public image-- including in public forums like LAVA-- (even if upbeat is not totally real) and things will work out eventually. Best Regards, Louis

QUOTE (alfa @ Mar 12 2009, 04:10 AM) Wow, that explains a lot!

Hi Folks: Seems to me that the vast majority of times I do stuff that needs execution order without data dependency, it is i/o with file system or hardware of some sort... most often things that can pop up with some kind of unexpected fault I'd like to detect. It also seems like there have been many times I've designed code using the error cluster for purely execution order purposes only to discover later that I want to trap some condition and flag it as an error later, and been glad the wiring of the cluster was already done. So I sort of think the error cluster is fine for establishing execution order, and no new wire type for that is needed. (Though if you want, you could always use a U8 or something as a proxy for a null wire, if you really want one.) On the other hand, not at all sure I'd design the error cluster just the way its used in modern LV, but that's a whole different topic... my 2c, Best regards, Louis

It just doesn't seem as catchy as "The software is the instrument." Best, Louis

QUOTE (hooovahh @ Feb 12 2009, 10:49 AM) ...Well there aren't that many threads where the other means of navigation get cumbersome. Best, L

Hi Folks: The go to page control in a multipage thread doesn't seem to work for me. for example this: doesn't seem to do anything when I push the Go button. I'm running Firefox 3.0.6 under XP. Best Regards, Louis

Haven't priced Aardvarks lately, but I guess they must be around $400 the pair. Doesn't seem like that much, but if your DUTs are going to throw 28 v in inappropriate directions with any regularity, I guess it can add up. Sounds to me like you might need some high power zener diode protection circuits-- Perhaps backed up with fuses. Transorb is one brand protective diode I've used before. Also some current-limiting resistors might help, especially in combination with the diodes. Might also be possible to opto-isolate the inputs, but that can get dicey if your running at a high clock rate. (Whatever you do, be sure that the protection system also flags the DUT as bad. Seems quite likely that any DUT sick enough to put 28V on the clock lines would also fail any reasonable tests, but it wouldn't do to protect the tester and have the DUT blow up its target system instead.) Best Luck, Louis

Will NI's 8451 do the job for you? I've got one, seem to recall it was economical, and definitely was pretty easy to set up. (not that my I2C traffic was all that easy, but that too is a long story) at any rate, the 8451 is working fine for me. Best, Louis

QUOTE (zmarcoz @ Jan 22 2009, 11:24 AM) A skilled proofreader, in their native language, can work pretty quickly- but not two pages in 15 seconds. (I don't really think its possible to do a thorough proofreading job in less time than it takes to read the document aloud.

QUOTE (Gary Rubin @ Jan 21 2009, 04:04 PM) --Be that as it may, no excuse for them not finding out-and-out grammar errors! zmarcoz: I have given the latest version of your resume a quick read (I didn't have time to proofread closely). But based on the kind of quick read I would give a resume if I were hiring someone, this version is much better, gives a much clearer picture of who you are, of why someone might want to choose you over other applicants and reads much more smoothly. Probably room for further improvement, but at least to my eye you are heading in the right direction. Best, Louis

QUOTE (Manudelavega @ Jan 21 2009, 10:41 AM) Definitely start with empty array and use "insert into array" -- much more efficient, especially for larger arrays. (many threads discussing this in both LAVA and NI site.) What to do when the array fills, if it ever does? Sort of up to you... Several approaches: 1) Blank out the whole array, start again from scratch. 2) Start at the beginning, overwrite the first sample, but leave the old data up for display, then overwrite the second sample, etc. 3) Like (2) but blank out the first few samples, overwrite the first sample, that way there is a scrolling blank spot between the newest sample (at the right end of the left part of the trace) and the oldest sample (at the left end of the right part of the trace) 4) Like (2) but rotate the data before you display it, so the oldest data sample shows up at the left edge of the graph, and the newest at the right, doing this means the display will start to scroll once if fills up. A bit more work than some of the other choices. By the way, initializing the array and blanking out some samples are an excellent place to use NaN-- Not a Number. Just type this into an array of data and play with it to see how it works-- in display and calculations-- if you are not familiar with it. Best, Louis

Hi zmarcoz: I agree with most all of the other comments, and join them in wishing you best results in your career search. In particular, I agree that networking contacts are worth far more than trying to get a job through simply posting a resume or contacting a few recruiters. Just the same, the resume has to be near perfect, even if you make contact with a potential employer another way, they will be influenced, positively or negatively, when they see your resume. Also, I think its important not to emphasize the programming tools, but what you are doing with the tools. Programming languages are just tools, like hammers. If you were a sculptor or a carpenter, you wouldn't write a resume about knowing how to swing a hammer, you'd write one about what kind of sculpture or carpentry you do. Perhaps you have a separate resume for your particular field, and the one you have shared with us is simply a back-up in case you have to apply to jobs outside of your field-- If so, and if you are anxious enough to find a job to take one outside of your field of work, this is fine. But if not, try to slant the resume more to what you've done and want to do, not the tools you use to do it. In a similar way, your statement "presented my work in conference" is way weaker than it need be... If it were me, I'd say "Presented work on reaction injection molding of wind turbine blades at the 2004 AWEA conference." instead-- My field, not yours, but you get the point. Finally, you always need a really good proofreader to go over any resume very carefully for grammar errors. True even if you are a native-speaker of the language, but even more so if not. For example, I think you mean , "Power Systems, Modeling Statistics, Probability theory"-- now what you have written. (Although perhaps I'm wrong on the last one, although I've never heard of it, it seems like there should be a field called Possibility Theory...) the proofreader has to be someone who is good at proofreading, who isn't afraid to risk offending you by pointing out the minor details (like the above) that are wrong, and who is willing to take the time to help you out. If you have a friend that is a journalism or English literature student, that friend might be a good choice. Again, best results in the career search, my comments intended to help, not to criticize. Best Regards, Louis Edit: Fixed font size.

Hi Manudelavega: Welcome to LAVA. Your array size is pretty small: 8640 samples/channel for the 24 hour period. Even with a large number of channels, you shouldn't have any problems in that regard, you could fit the whole array in memory if there were not other problems with the approach. (If you use an array, be sure to initialize it to the size you need when you begin, since you know what the size will be that is most efficient-- see other threads on memory allocation.) Trusting the computer to stay running for 24 hours is another issue. For that reason, you should probably be writing your data to a file, so you don't end up losing a day's work. The probability of having Windows crash within a day is less than it used to be, but still unacceptable if the cost of a day's experiment is at all high. If the reading and graphing routine can afford the slight delay (it probably can) the easiest approach would be to write the file, and let the other guy's display programs read the same file. If not, keep the array in memory, but also back it up to a file often. Best, Louis

QUOTE (Zac @ Jan 19 2009, 11:49 AM) Pretty cool project-- If it is for a wind tunnel, my previous comment about LabVIEW drivers goes in spades. Worst comes to worst (and only if worst comes to worst) chuck their software, and also chuck their electronics, and wire the strain gauge bridges directly into a cRIO A/D convertor. (I believe NI makes a strain gauge bridge device for cRIO.) Best, Louis