I really think that LabVIEW guru is insane! I thought I heard the last of him but here is the "guru" again. Back to his old tricks. Here we have the classic case of someone who is in need of psyciatric help. His latest Info-Labview email with my assesment...
Having reviewed the coding challenge again, I am struck with the reality
that this IS a real challenge.
This is a challenge? I managed to do it in an hour. Most decent developers can.
In review. I spoke with a customer on Tuesday that has some interesting
requirements. On of those requirements is to add ninth bit to their serial
transmissions. This must be done in software, as the customer cannot use
hardware, unless the hardware is redesigned by National Instruments. This
ninth bit must be embedded within the 8 bits to allow transmission over
standard serial protocol.
I have two reactions to this: First, way to go NI. Second, you crooked
bastards. I think I like the former reaction better.
I love how he blasts NI at every chance he gets, using extreme language.
NI has been given the task of solving this problem for the customer. In
turn, they have created a "coding challenge" to solve the problem, probably
because NI realizes that the best talent is outside, not within NI. This
makes sense, as NI hires people to create LabVIEW, not use it. Kudos to
them for coming up with such an innovative solution to a task handed to them.
Now here is where it gets extremely absurd. The fact that NI would even think about this is ridiculous. This person actually believes what he's saying. He is so obsessed with conspiracy theories and thinks that NI is out to personally get him somehow.
Since I may be picking up this contract anyway (doubtful, the customer
doesn't want to pay going rates, though considering my situation...anything
is better than nothing, I think...) I am going to take a crack at this
problem. I find it very funny, because on my way home from this interview
(4 hour drive, plenty of boredom...er time) I was thinking of very fast
ways to do this. Lucky for me, I can also contact the customer and get exact specs for the
ninth bit...
Please, I beg of you, if you're the customer do not let this stalker on your premisis. He is dangerous to your test systems...
To all who are submitting solutions, thank you very much. I only hope your
code is readable, because I'm probably going to be the one implementing it
at the site.
Hmmm...maybe I should be a judge.
Advanced Test Engineering
http://advancedtestengineering.com
Well, I am astonished and amazed that this person is a LabVIEW programmer.
After that email he was blasted by several other Info-LabVIEW posters:
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
The coding challenge was cooked up several months ago.
It was selected from a list of challenges -- none of the others
had anything to do with bit twiddling. The coding challenge is
to take nine-bit even-parity data and return the eight bit data.
The Encoder.vi, which seems closer to what you describe is
given along with the challenge to produce nine bit data from
eight bit data so that you could test your VI.
Finally, my prediction is that an NI employee will win the coding
challenge.
Yep, you heard me right. Just because some people at NI write
bad LV diagrams doesn't mean that everyone at NI writes bad
LV diagrams. This myth about the VI writing talent being outside
of NI is hogwash in my opinion. I'll see if I can't get some
preliminary rankings up soon to backup my assertion.
Please try to get your solution submitted soon.
Greg McKaskle
Of course this did not satisfy him so he responded:
The customer has been working with NI for several months on this
solution. My information is accurate. NI has this information. There can
be no coincidence. While it may be that the people who created the
challenge were not directly aware of the customer's problem, the nature of
the problem is well known in engineering, both hardware and software, at
NI, according to the customer. It may well be that the people that created
the challenge just heard about the problem without knowing about the
customer, saw how much trouble the solution was presenting, or saw the
uniqueness of the problem, and decided it would be an excellent problem to
present as a challenge. I for one would have done the same thing, if I
worked for NI.
He's sticking to his theory. Well, I must say he's persistent.
I was not making any accusations. I merely pointed out that NI did a
wonderful thing by allowing the LabVIEW community to solve this
problem. It is a very unique problem. This code will be implemented by
the consultant. So, _I_ am the one that would benefit from this coding
challenge. Were I a real jerk, I would sit back and let the LabVIEW
community solve this for me. I am not. I plan to do the work I will be
paid to do anyway, and hopefully, come up with a fast solution. If you
really want to start flinging accusations, you could accuse me of being the one to suggest the challenge. I did not, so let me settle that before it becomes an argument. We don't care who proposed the challenge you moron. We also don't care where the challenge came from. NI is NOT using the LabVIEW community to solve customer problems for free. There is NO conspiracy. My intent in my original post was to present my theory for the origin of this coding challenge. Its not an accusation. Accusations imply wrongdoing. While I pointed out that one reaction I had was accusatory, it was a gut reaction. Further thought (about 4 ms worth) said it was a stroke of brilliance. I'm sorry you misinterpreted my thoughts. He needs help.
