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Should I learn NXG ?

With the COVID19 lockdown been doing some online training on LV to brush up basics and also unlearn some bad styles of coding !!

 

While on this also did the intro course to NXG and also looked up the comparison between LV and NXG. 

 

It appears to be a subset of LV with some added facilities but not as complete as LV. The key differentiation ( besides some others ) as I can see is below :

 

LV vs NXG.JPG

 

So the question is : Should I even bother to learn NXG or would it be that one day LV will fully transform as NXG ? 

 

( Tried searching something on similar lines but could not come up with any relevant post ) 

 

 

Raghunathan
LabVIEW to Automate Hydraulic Test rigs.
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I'm not sure how you arrived at your conclusions, but LV NXG is a complete reworking of the "G" code interface.  One of the most obvious differences is, because NXG has been written in .NET, we are finally released from our decades-old ties to monitor resolution!  No more tiny icons on high-res screens.

 

NXG means "Next Generation", and it's not a subset of anything.  It represents the LabVIEW of the future.  That being said, while NXG is no longer in its infancy, it's still a toddler.  Not quite ready for prime time, IMO.

 

Have I learned it?  No, not yet.  I do plan on learning when LV Community Edition comes out, because NXG will be a part of that, too.  So I think you should definitely learn LV NXG now.  That way, you'll be prepared for the day when NXG finally supersedes LV Classic.  That time is soon.

Bill
CLD
(Mid-Level minion.)
My support system ensures that I don't look totally incompetent.
Proud to say that I've progressed beyond knowing just enough to be dangerous. I now know enough to know that I have no clue about anything at all.
Humble author of the CLAD Nugget.
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I think like Bill said there will come a time when knowing how to use NXG will be necessary.

 

From some brief experimentation, it's not quite the same, but others have given presentations in which they've shown they were able to (with experience of LabVIEW 'classic', for want of a better term) adapt to NXG and get things done reasonably well.

 

I expect that as more things are implemented in NXG, it will become easier and easier to start using it based on knowledge of 'classic'. Also, at some point in the moderately but not infinitely distant future, there will be no more new 'classic' versions, only "NXG". (As a side note, maybe then it will no longer be the "next generation", just the "new generation" or the "current generation"?)

 

I'd generally recommend avoiding NXG for "real work" in the present tense, unless you're working with web services, since I hear NXG has a big advantage there - I tried briefly, it can generate HTML and use CSS and so on and you can edit the HTML directly in the IDE if you want. I'm not familiar enough with web design to evaluate if it's a useful tool for those who are familiar with writing good HTML/CSS/JS etc but I guess it will make creating websites more accessible for LabVIEW/G programmers.

 

LabVIEW 2019 had nice new features (particularly Sets and Maps) and I'm sure LabVIEW 2020 and probably 202x will also add new and helpful features. So it's not a dead end yet to continue with 'classic'. Just be aware that in the future, that will eventually change.


GCentral
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@MogaRaghu wrote:

With the COVID19 lockdown been doing some online training on LV to brush up basics and also unlearn some bad styles of coding !!

 


Both LabVIEW versions use the same language: G. Even the compiler under the hood is the same. The differences are mostly cosmetic. This also means that good or bad coding styles are identical on the two platforms. If you are currently familiar with classic LabVIEW and want to improve your coding style, switching to NXG will not magically change your habits.  You will be forced to focus on the new environment, with no time to learn better habits. It might even make things worse because you can now zoom out and make diagrams even larger. 😮

 

I would recommend to do things one step at a time:

 

  1. Continue to use classic LabVIEW but focus on improving your code architecture and coding style. There are significantly more tutorials, lesson, examples, etc. available.
  2. Switch to NXG much later, i.e. once your are a master of modern LabVIEW coding.  Now you can focus on the new environment, which is a very small additional step.
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NXG will be worth "learning" (more getting used to, IMO), once it's getting more features.

 

NXG won't have DPI issues, nor the MBSC (lack of (officially supported) Unicode) misery. It will have better and documented APIs for extendibility.

 

I don't feel my 20 year of CG knowledge is flushed down the drain. It will get me up to speed very fast in NXG. It's just mostly the IDE that you need to learn, and at some point, in the not too distant future, it will become the standard.

 

Whether it's too early to start learning NXG depends on your situation. We are planning our first 100% NXG project. I expect more to follow, but CG will still be the standard for a while.

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