So for the last few weeks, my blog has had a poll that asked users how they'll be programming their FIRST Robotics Competition robots for 2009. All 3 votes unanimously pointed to C++ as being the programming platform of choice.
This is quite interesting since National Instruments (maker of the cRIO) has been heavily pushing LabVIEW. Not coincidentally, National Instruments is also the developer of LabVIEW. Makes sense right, make us use their hardware and then give us their proprietary development environment to use for programming the hardware.
I know Wind River is providing their Workbench for C++ folks to use, but in the end, C++ can be used in thousands of different environments, from Microsoft to Eclipse from Sun Microsystems. There are C++ environments that are free and there are some that cost a lot of coin.
LabVIEW isn't what I would call a language but an application where the user can drag and drop "things" to make logic to solve a problem. This is essentially what a computer program is, however it is written using commands and specific syntax to create an algorithm that solves the problem.
I'm not trying to beat up on LabVIEW; I have downloaded it and have given it a whirl. I have intended on posting a review. I'm not sure if that will happen or not, but I'll try. I am surprised that all votes on my poll went to C++ considering the amount of effort NI has used to promote LabVIEW.
Now, time for a new poll.
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