jzoller

I think it could be (and I would like it to be!), but there are some fundamental differences in how they work. For instance, Markdown doesn't support underlining, and focuses pretty heavily on linking. I would like to end up closer to the Markdown spec than it is now, but there's a good bit of work yet to go. Joe Z.

Inspired by this idea, these are just a few, one-day-of-coding functions that implement a simple, regex based markup for string controls. For those not familiar with it, markup allows inline text to modify the displayed properties of the text. For instance, **bold** becomes bold, _italics_ becomes italics, etc. The code currently supports: Bold Italic Underline Colors (in #XXXXXX format) Text sizes (verysmall, small, large, verylarge) Strikethrough Some font setting Of course, it's still limited by the string control capabilities (no hyperlinks, no superscripts, no embedded lists). If people think it's worthwhile, I'll develop it into a somewhat more complete solution (or, of course, they can!). An X-control that supports it seems like an obvious extension, but I'm open to ideas. Note: this was developed in LV2011, and back-ported to LV2009. If you spot a problem with it, please notify me. Use: open and run LVMark_TestString.vi for a demonstration. Thanks, Joe Z. LVMark2009.zip

I'll be expecting more incense and mysticism from Nancy at the next user's group meeting JZ

AQ's answer covers very well what I would consider to be the philosophy of computer science. Without an understanding of this philosophy, you will spend a LOT of time rediscovering things that are already known. However, there are other types of books. Some of these can be more important from a strictly practical standpoint. Even if you don't read the actual book, you should have an understanding (and experience with) the material. (Note: many of these are covered in typical computer science and electrical engineering courses, as well. You may just look up the course syllabi at your local/prestigious university.) Fundamentals of computer science: A data structures book (I like this one, but it's because Michael Main was an amazing teacher) A programming languages fundamentals book that gives at least a high level understanding of compilers. I'd recommend one, but I've not yet found a great one. An introductory algorithms book, like... Introduction to Algorithms. No O(x^n) code! And if you don't understand that, it's why you need the book Fundamentals of electrical engineering & construction: At this point, I admit that I'm a comp sci kinda guy, so I'm shallow here, but... A book about the fundamentals of computer hardware. Code by Charles Petzold seems to fill the gap pretty painlessly... not necessarily rigorously, but painlessly. The electrical engineers I work with swear that Practical Electronics for Inventors is absolute gold. It does things "the right way, finally!". Unlike traditional programmers, we often need to actually make non-product level stuff in the physical world. I always recommend Building Scientific Apparatus, and a mentor to help out through the rough spots. ni.com is no slouch in this department... their white papers are occasionally (obviously, irritatingly) marketing tracts, but more often contain a lot of good, fundamental measurement information. Software construction: stackoverflow.com has pretty exhaustive lists of this type of book, but there are a couple of standouts. Code Complete by Steve McConnell. Yes, you should read this. Once a year. The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas. Not my favorite writing style, but, when you start putting it into practice, you realize how useful it really is. Business of software: There's been a lot of software navel-gazing over the years. That said, a lot of it is just useful navel-gazing. And all of us do work in software, or want to... right? Joel on Software. Joel can be irritatingly smug, on occasion. That said, his writings have an amazing amount of insight into how the software world should be, and sometimes isn't. And hey, he has a book list, too. That looks familiar... Peopleware. Once a year. Twice if you're a manager. Not kidding. I really like randsinrepose.com. I suspect it's just a personal taste, but there it is. Probably the most important thing is... READ! Something, anything! Most programmers (and test engineers) don't. And it gives you a huge advantage when you do. Joe Z.

So, I'm on round two of back surgery recovery, which leaves me a lot of time to think beyond what meeting is coming up next... I'd like to be a better LabVIEW programmer (yes, even after 10 years!). One of the things that, I believe, makes for a better programmer is working with those who are better than you. Honestly, most of the people I've worked with really, ah, don't care that much... or, often, there isn't even another LabVIEW programmer for me to work with. In my experience, this is the rule for almost everyone. Over the years, this situation has left me doing a lot of research and testing, but without feedback, I often end up with the feeling of just "making things up". And so, when I run across a job listing like this totally awesome gem, I'm left wondering... am I even remotely qualified for that? I'm curious... what have other people done to become better top-end LV programmers, and to work with the best in the industry? Joined one of the top consulting firms? Joined NI? Started their own business? Anything else? Thanks, Joe Z.

For the mechanics of C#, I really liked Andrew Troelsen's Pro C# and the .NET Platform (although I have an earlier version). It's a fun language, and Visual Studio is really very nice to work with. Have fun, Joe Z.

Hi Ryan, I like snippets. I've played around with them (IE only in my tests, and you may need to turn off Protected Mode and restart IE) a fair bit, and they ARE fun. But they seem... underdeveloped. For my use cases, they just need things that don't (and maybe can't) exist: Cross browser support Bundling the hierarchy into the image, rather than just the top level code Keeping context linking (say, to property nodes) Integrated thumbnailing would be awesome A better way to match abstract images to larger code (like VI icons do)... okay, I can build this myself, but I'd take it if it showed up Using the menu (rather than a right click) for creating snippets is slow The thing that really killed my little palette experiment there, though, was a lack of browser integration into the LV IDE. Swapping out to drag something out of a browser window is just a pain, especially on a single screen. I'm not suggesting this is a great LV feature overall, but it definitely makes snippets hard to use. I did use snippets at work to build a little library of templates to host on the central SharePoint (Not my choice of web servers...): the new users really liked being able to visually browse what was available. But, since it requires some libraries to already be in place on their computer, it really doesn't work as a package management system. Joe Z.