It would be nice if it had really been an actual website problem had held me back enough to query talk about it. Truth be told, shortly after writing that, I discovered that the big hold up was that I needed to click in a different portion of the date/time selection box tI get it to respond. Genius on my part, huh? Regardless, thanks for prompt response…I’m working on getting it all filled properly to hopefully lock it in…
So I’ll set up first 2 hour class of an N part series, with N determined by interest level. The first class will be all about basic constructs and running the code. By the end of this class you will have written 5 or more little programs, so you should be comfortable running code and know where to find basic constructs and locate info about them.
It will be subsequent class session where we can start integrating to outside world, as I want to ensure that all everyone has the basic idea what time it is when it comes to basic operation of interface first.
So I’ve had the pleasure of introducing LV to several tech geek inclined individuals through the years. One of my cooler training accomplishments was a signal integrity lab tech at chip company. I had implemented a general purpose signal integrity measurement system that could sweep supply rail voltage and DUT chip temperature control through user defined range of settings. I provided a method for user definable DUT chip stimulus that would also trigger scope (or other instrument) which would in turn create a result matrix of size M * N fillable with user definable measurement from a range of possible instruments. Examples in matrix: scope screen shots, scope measured quantities like amplitude, rise time, etc. And you could use a spectrum analyzer, voltmeter, really any other sort of instrument you wanted for the Z axis measurement. And finally, if selected result was numeric, I provided option for 3d color plot output jpg file for visual effect.
I had written some pretty cool pieces of software, but this one was especially cool since the primary premise of signal integrity as a science was to ensure that signal quality was intact when run at max clock rate, and the following parameters are swept within their allowable range: supply voltage, silicon process variability (driver and receiver), PCB glass dielectric range, trace physical dimension ranges, temperature, operational switching noise. So as long as all 0s are 0s and 1s are 1s at every possible combination of these parameters at every conceivable value for every single signal on the design in question, that design is said to have good signal integrity. Prior to my coding this, I had seen extremely overpriced SI experts painstakingly had measure signals one by one, capturing waveforms manually and overlaying them for a nice infinite persistence style sweep of measurements.
Suffice it to say that labview talent was needed to be able to manage and/or operate this signal integrity signaling characterizer. As is often the case, this code was intended to run in the LabVIEW editing environment so as to preserve the maximum capability for the lab tech to alter at will without hindrance of compilation to exe., So when I took on a differing employment opportunity chasing almighty $, I had to train my replacement who could operate this LabVIEW automated SI characterization system. From what I could see, the other SI engineers were not adept enough in the lab to handle this beast. Instead, the lab technician, 2 year technical school degree, DeVry I think, looked like a winner for this one. He was a true lab tech, and made prototypes and fixtures that took a bit longer than I was expecting, but would be solid and crosschecked…worked every time (very rare in EE industry, usually the first pass goes back for rework at least a million times).
So I worked with this lab tech for the remaining time on LabVIEW. And he seemed to absorb it, because when I probed, he answered correctly, every single time. But upon my exit, I never knew for sure weather or not he had control of that situation or not. He looked good when I explained, but as I have learned, some folks get good at looking like they are getting it…product of years of pretending to pay attention in school I guess.
Well, I got my answer some 10 years later when social media relinked us. He was at the same company, and in fact, he had evidently rocketed past all those SI engineers with their four year degrees who never went into the lab. Looked to me like he was running the show, and I would bet that having that SI characterizer alongside a copy of labview put him in the driver seat when it came to correlating simulation to measurement. You see, the simulation-only fellows can put on a great show and talk a good talk. But the lab tech can perform that same simulation, then run it in the lab, and if he becomes skilled enough to learn the secrets to proper correlation, then his simulation results are backed up with measurement. I’d bank on his simulation predictions any day over the promises of the SI engineer who never leaves his office to venture forth into the lab.
So why the long story? This is why: to set expectation, I would not set the expectation that you should be able to match or outperform the LabVIEW dude teaching the class as a result of taking it. I have been working with electronics and software as my indulgent obsession for over 30 years, LabVIEW for nearly 20. On the other hand, I would take this class quite seriously and learn LabVIEW and learn it well. You see, the marriage of your existing software skills to the ability to incorporate directly with electronics in an environment that is many times quicker to program and see your results than what you are used to… well, that marriage spells you as an incredible value for any sort of makery type project you could possibly work on.
And that segways into an even more important topic, your value. As a hardworking, creative DMS electronics and/or software enthusiast prior to LabVIEW class, you have incredible value. And even more so after LV class. With teamwork, I think we can each tap a nice $lice of our collective values. But this is a topic for another day…
