The Zen of LabVIEW

[Jim Kring]

I'm a big fan of the Python programming language/environment and I really like The Zen of Python (by Tim Peters) :

Abstract

Long time Pythoneer Tim Peters succinctly channels the BDFL's

guiding principles for Python's design into 20 aphorisms, only 19

of which have been written down.

The Zen of Python

Beautiful is better than ugly.

Explicit is better than implicit.

Simple is better than complex.

Complex is better than complicated.

Flat is better than nested.

Sparse is better than dense.

Readability counts.

Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.

Although practicality beats purity.

Errors should never pass silently.

Unless explicitly silenced.

In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.

There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.

Now is better than never.

Although never is often better than *right* now.

If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.

If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.

Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

If we had a Zen of LabVIEW, what would it be? Here are a few ideas to get things rolling...

Straight wires are better than those with with bends

Flat sequence structures are better than stacked

Always wire error clusters -- inputs and outputs

Avoid relying on defaults (e.g., "default" frames in case structures, default tunnel values, default shift register values)

Initialize your shift registers (unless you are creating a LV2 global)

Required inputs should be marked as "required"

Nice icons are worth every minute spent on them (but not every hour spent on them)

Please create VI Descriptions and comment your code

[Aristos Queue]

If we had a Zen of LabVIEW, what would it be? Here are a few ideas to get things rolling...

A cluster or enum should be a typedef.

A typedef should be a LV class.

LV classes should be improved so that the previous is practical.

Event structures are better than polling loops.

LV makes UI easier, but even so, good programmers are not necessarily good UI designers. Figure out which you are and ask for help if necessary.

[Mike Ashe]

Event structures are better than polling loops.

It sounds a little more in the western tradition than the eastern, but ...

"To poll is human, to event is divine"

or

"To error is human, to exception handle is divine"

[Aristos Queue]

It sounds a little more in the western tradition than the eastern, but ...

Point taken. In that vein I offer a koan...

At dawn, a student asked of the master, "Master, what must I do to achieve enlightenment?"

The master answered, "Walk around this pole all day. Each time you reach north, smack yourself in the head."

The student did so.

The next day, the student asked the master, "Master, what must I do to achieve enlightenment?"

The master answered, "Do as you did yesterday, but skip the walking."

Upon hearing the answer, the student was enlightened.