[volt-nuts] do you like Labview in your labs?

[John Ackermann N8UR]

FWIW, the little I've done in Python has been positive.  It's capable of 
a lot -- the whole Gnuradio interface is built in python.

Personally, I've used perl under Linux for most of my GPIB stuff.  Since 
perl is good at string handling, it works well for grabbing data from 
the instrument, munging it a bit, then writing it to a log file -- which 
is most of what I do.

John
----

On 12/7/2010 2:28 PM, Marv Gozum @ JHN wrote:
> Many thanks again Chuck. Beyond the facts, your passion for Python says
> a lot. I will take the time to dig into it. I like interpreted for
> onthefly results, I want easy set up, and flexibility in many things
> particularly managing variables ala BASIC is always welcome; I had
> something like it in Turbo Pascal and Delphi despite being compiled. I
> share your misgiving with C, just not good when you are splitting time
> between hardware and software and want fast results.
>
> I was going to give Free Pascal a whirl, but sound like Python may be
> enough.
>
> http://www.python.org/about/
>
>
> At 11:23 AM 12/7/2010, Chuck Harris wrote:
>> Hi Marvin,
>>
>> Python is appealing for a number of reasons. First, it is an
>> interpreted scripting language. You can make changes on the
>> fly and instantly see their effect. Second, it is a very highly
>> structured object oriented language. Third, it is available on
>> virtually all operating systems, and runs on virtually all processors.
>> Fourth, it has thousands of library functions available. Chances are
>> that anything you want to do, library wise, has already been done, and
>> is waiting for you... python and graphs, python and surfaces, python
>> and audio, python and Octave, python and C++, python and burning DVD's,
>> python and well, visa compliant GPIB drivers...
>>
>> Because it is scripted, Python is never going to be the fastest running
>> solution, but how fast do you need your GPIB code to be? The libraries
>> are typically written in C++, and are blindingly quick. The ease with
>> which you can make small changes and test them makes quick utilities
>> easy to put together. The easy integration with packages like wxPython
>> makes building beautiful integrated graphical applications easy to toss
>> together.... and wxPython builds GUI's anywhere python runs... including
>> windows.
>>
>> Perl would work too, but unless you are very disciplined, perl scripts
>> end up being write only... totally unintelligible when you come back
>> later to make changes... sometimes even the next day...
>>
>> I like C a lot; however, it takes a serious amount of setting up
>> to make the compiler not barf with lots of undefined references.
>> Python shares a characteristic with BASIC in that using a variable
>> will cause it to be created, of the right type, and properly initialized.
>>
>> And, unlike Labview, python will survive the NI's eventual bankruptcy, or
>> sale. Python is heavily used in Linux, BSD unix, and even windows. It
>> will be here for a long while.
>>
>> -Chuck Harris
>
> Best Wishes,
>
>
> Marv Gozum
> Philadelphia
>
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