CLAD Certification

Im planning to attempt Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer(CLAD) examination within the next three months time.

I have been using LabVIEW since last seven years,but never really seriously thought about the certification.But I thought I should give it a try now and may be go on for advanced certifications as well.The reason : Certification about a skill you have makes you feel good.

I see many developers arent really concerned about certification.Of course many others do,but again many others donot.Probably sitting for an exam is likely to get the days of school examinations to mind.And its difficult to sit for an exam after getting in a profession.I can say that since the exam needs a focussed preparation inspite of years of experience.

Another issue that I need to mention here is that NI doesnt have test centers(other than Bangalore) in India.Travelling to Bangalore to write a 1 hour exam does give a scope to procrastination. I feel NI should plan something like they do in countries like US ..May be Pearson Test Centers,so that aspirants can book their slot in their nearest test center.Think about it National Instruments...

By the way,please leave your comments on your experiences,preparation and thoughts about the NI certification exams.

Cool Application....

National Instruments (NI),US of A has started a code contest using LabVIEW.All that you have to do is upload some of your cool applications and the top prize is an ipad and winners in various categories can go away with $100 amazon gift voucher.

I have been browsing some of the applications that have been loaded at

http://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/coding-challenge-2010

My favorite application among several cool applications is "Mathnode" by Mr.Darin.K

Here is what Darin says about his baby

"My primary goal of this example is to demonstrate something cool in LabVIEW. I hope to have accomplished a few things: Demonstrate cool LV capabilities such as scripting and XNodes in new and interesting ways and to share my vision for a new type of math tool in LabVIEW that is based on G, but leverages the power of other tools such as Mathematica, Math Type, LaTeX, and others. In short, I utilize the power of LaTeX and MathML to quickly and easily share equations between all of these programs (and even Wikipedia) and implement them in native G code in LabVIEW."

With this tool its just a copy paste for many complicated looking math equations to be coded into LabVIEW...Great productivity tool.Almost eliminates the "drag" effect for coding these math equation.

Its cool Darin.Thanks for sharing the coolest of the codes.

You can find details and download code from

http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-13859

If you are someone who prefer videos to text.Here are the videos


Part 1 - Introduction : http://www.screencast.com/t/WgKDsNzI0
Part 2 - Math Input Control and Math Node : http://www.screencast.com/t/jnW69fj1P
Part 3 - Multiple Equations from Wikipedia and Quick Drop Action : http://www.screencast.com/t/YzG9ojDPig3


I enjoyed the idea.Hope you do.

By the way,if you have some cool LabVIEW.Please do share.