How much? NI must be joking!

[bogiasac]

Dear all,

I am recent graduated in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from a british university and i have a general question for people like me and those with more experience in labview.

My first contact with labview was during my third year (04-05) at university. I then continued on to use labview for my fourth year group project. In order to be able to program with LV, I completed courses LV Basics 1 and 2. However, since my skills in software engineering are pretty limited (the only programming i know is soldering!!!) and what i required to do for my project was beyond what the above courses had to offer, i got really frustrated. The university library had a few books on Labview and i contemplated on buying a book or two to help me with my project.

However, from the prevoius year i had already understood that most (if not all) of the books published, do not really teach you how to program in labview. Most of the books have titles like 'Learning with labview', or 'Instrumentation and Control application with labview', or 'DSP and labview'. These books might be ok for a beginner or for someone who is looking for some specific topic, but not for someone who wants to improve his LV skills in general .

What i am trying to say is that I am looking to extent my knowledge in labview. However, LV course Intermediate 1 and 2 cost an extorsoniate ~1700 britsish pounds. That is more than i pay for 1 years university fees (1100 only)!!!!!

My question to all you, including all the NI personel is how do they expect to make labview more popular (and get the next generation of engineers/programmers to use it) since not enough (or not the right) books are out there and their courses cost a small fortune (for a student).

Also, from what i know very few universities in britain teach labview as a module and if they do its probably at a masters level (see Manchester Msc in Instrumentation engineering).

I do understand that 1700 pounds might not be that much for a company to send you on trainning, but for students like me (and many people in academia e.g. researchers ) this constitutes a major problem.

I am assuming that american uni's might offer courses in LV from the 1st year of study, but this is not the case in bristish ones.

The fact is that the books publish on LV, which are meant to teach LV, are not up to the standard they should. What i mean by this is that LV basics 1&2 were so well written (they were of incredible help to me) and i can not find anything as good as those two courses, in order to continue on the same learning curve.

Does anyone know of any good books (above level LV basics 1&2)?

I need LV Intermediate 1&2.

Here is my email address. If any one can give some advice please contact me at bogiasac@msn.com .

I hope this generates some positive comments and possible actions.

Please forgive me if i hit the nerve of some people in this forum.

All the best

Alex

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

Welcome to LAVA!

Your question is fair, and lucky for you one of our greatest members has helped in the most recent rewrite of one of the best books called "LabVIEW for Everyone". The original books are good, and with Jim's input on the third edition, you shouldn't be dissapointed.

Another book worth reading is "A Software Egineering Approach to LabVIEW" by Conway and Watts. This book is a couple of years old, but covers software planning and design. Preview of it available via Google The authors are from Hampshire, UK their web site is http://www.ssdc.co.uk/. I took the Intermediate I & II classes, and the concepts as well as small portions of this book were referenced. You should know that there are some rendering quality problems with the illustrations in this book; not the fault of the authors.

The third edition of LabVIEW for Everyone is expected to be released on August 1st. I'm not sure about ordering from the UK, but Amazon is offering a nice discount if you pre-order.

[bogdani]

Hi

I think LV Punk choose the best solutions. The third edition of LabVIEW for Everyone is the best book on the market right now and it is much cheaper than NI training. Instead of NI training you could also buy only a book from this training and it is also cheaper solutions than spending 1700 for training.

bogdani

[brent99]

Ah: school on 1200 pounds a year. Nice if you can get it, I suppose. I think my books cost more than that.

I think largely the point of NI training is corporate -- it is best for those who have software engineering experience but need to get up to speed in Labview as quickly as humanly possible because their feet are being held to the fire on a new Labview job.

Most people with programming experience should be able to get up to speed on Labview with books and online resources that are readily available. I actually skipped the basics and went straight to the Intermediate classes when I was first dunked into Labview. And most of the intermediate stuff, if I recall correctly, is on an Application Builder level that would be outside the financial resources of most students anyway.

Don't get me wrong -- your point on mass-propogation through inexpensive training is well-taken. Really, that's up to the NI marketing gurus on where they wish to focus their expansion efforts, and I'd bet that changes radically every year.

Microsoft has always given their stuff away (well, practically) to academics in order to get young ones comfortable with the MS tools so they demand them in real jobs when they grow up. I don't know to what degree NI has looked into that strategy.

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

Microsoft has always given their stuff away (well, practically) to academics in order to get young ones comfortable with the MS tools so they demand them in real jobs when they grow up. I don't know to what degree NI has looked into that strategy.

A student version of LabVIEW is available (with text books) for less than $100 US!

The LabVIEW Student Edition Software Suite consists of the following National Instruments software on a single DVD:

LabVIEW 8 Student Edition for Windows 2000/XP

LabVIEW Digital Filter Design Toolkit

Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW

LabVIEW Control Design Toolkit

LabVIEW Simulation Module

LabVIEW System Identification Toolkit

NI Device Drivers

[Grampa_of_Oliva_n_Eden]

Lets see if I can give this a little spin the other way...

Look at it from the point of view of the organization that offers the course.

Lets ignore the cost of reloading all of the machine each time the course changes and keeping all of the hardware up to date and functioning.

The NI course must be taught by CLD's or CLA's.

Concider what CLD's and CLA's would make durring the same 40 hours if they were doing project work.

With a full class room they may break even with what they would make if doing contract work.

So the cost when compare to universities may be high, in effect, its a rather fair deal.

Closing Q:

Why do you think T/A's often teach undergrad courses?

Ben

[kalyanramu]

Hey Alex,

What you asked is a great question. However, at NI we also offer the manuals of this course so that you can self-pace if you cannot attend instructor-led courses.

Here are the links to courses

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/10450

LabVIEW Basics I

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2261

LabVIEW Basics II

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2262

Kalyan

[LAVA 1.0 Content]

Here are the links to courses

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/10450

LabVIEW Basics I

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2261

LabVIEW Basics II

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2262

Alex did mention that he was looking for something beyond Basics I & II.

The Intermediate courses were excellent, but I know I could not have afforded them on my own. The last time I looked, it was something like $2,300 for one week to take Int. I & II. There does not appear to be any self paced learning for Intermediate

I would still recommend A Software Engineering Approach to LabVIEW, although it is getting a bit old at this point. I've spoken to a few people who write these kinds of books and unfortunately the effort usually outweighs the rewards.

I guess the best way to learn more about LabVIEW is to become a LabVIEW Advanced Virtual Architect and ask questions here!

[Mike Ashe]

The 3rd Ed of "LabVIEW for Everyone" has a lot of material that should take you past the basics, including material to help you study for the CLD exam. I was one of the technical reviewers for the book, and what I saw was good. But after the reveiw period was over Jim Kring added a lot of material before it went to press to make it even better.

For the price you can't beat it.