The SAS Workshops Blog

Highlighting Our Director Of Operations

We now have a Director of Operations. Taylor has been instrumental in so many parts of the business for the past year and a half. Now it's just official!

Coding Philosophy , Design Patterns , OOP , Legacy Code

Can Your Code Be Too SOLID?

You can have too much of a good thing. Lots of code is hard to read because it uses too many unnecessary abstractions.

How to , Software Engineering , Software tools , SCC

The Absolute Easiest Way to Setup LVCompare and LVMerge

Setting LVCompare and LVMerge is as easy as copying a few lines of code and running them in Git Bash.

Coding Philosophy , Legacy Code

I have written about my thoughts on rewrite versus refactor in the recent past. Recent events have kind of added a little nuance to that. I wanted to explore that in this post in the hope of generating some more conversation around this decision that many of us often face.

Coding Philosophy , Business

Joy Inc

Life is too short. Don't spend most of your life working in a job you hate. It doesn't have to be that way. This book will show you how to introduce joy at work.

Business

Every Company is a Technology Company

I don't know how you run a ~ $25B logistics business where all your revenue comes from online purchases and you don't have a CTO. In 2023.

Goals

2023 Goals

Here are my 3 Big Rocks for 2023. What are yours?

Goals

2022 In Review

Here's just a look back at 2022, all the things that worked and those that didn't.

Coding Philosophy

The Programmer's Brain

Ultimately all problems are human problems and all humans have brains. Understanding how our brains work can be very useful.

Python

Python For Scientists and Engineers

If you are looking to expand your skills beyond LabVIEW, Python is a good choice. I recently took Enthought's class. Here are my thoughts.

Announcements

Advent Of Code 2022

It's almost time for Advent of Code again this year. If you haven't joined the leaderboard, and the Discord, what are you waiting for?

A LabVIEW Block Diagram showing the use of the Python Node to call some Python Code. The python code along with the ruselt is

Python , How to

Using Python Classes In LabVIEW

Now in LabVIEW 2022 Q3 you can use Python objects with the Python Node. Find out how.

Python , SCC , How to

Using Git Hooks

Git Hooks can be quite useful for a variety of things. Here is a simple example to make sure you don't forget to include an issue # in your commit message.

Coding Philosophy

Generosity

By making your tool Open Source you are not losing out. You are actually gaining because you are allowing the community to contribute.

Coding Philosophy

Metrics

Metrics are always an interesting topic. What do you measure and why? And how do you keep people from gaming it?

Coding Philosophy

The Need For Speed

When making decisions you need a true north. You need a litmus test. Here is a case for why speed should be that litmus test.

Legacy Code , Coding Philosophy

Thoughts On Technical Debt

What does the phrase "technical debt" mean to you? How do you deal with it?

Coding Philosophy

Normalize Paying For Open Source Tools

If we want our favorite Open Source tools to continue to be maintained we need to start supporting the maintainers.

Book Reviews , Business

Go For No

The number one challenge faced by most LabVIEW Developers turned consultants is sales and marketing. This book can help with the sales part.

Coding Philosophy

The LabVIEW Experiment

You may have heard rumors that I started a podcast. "The LabVIEW Experiment" is a place to discuss how to improve our craft and make coding fun again.

Coding Philosophy

Be The Developer Everyone Wants On Their Team

How can you become the developer that everyone wants on their team? Here are a couple ideas.

Coding Philosophy

Thoughts On Rewrite Vs Refactor

Rewrite or Refactor? Every developer has faced that choice. What should you consider in making your decision?

Coding Philosophy

Maxims to Code By

Maxims are little phrases that we use to remind ourselves of what is important. Here are some that I use when writing code.

Coding Philosophy

Effective Time Management

As coders, we often like to work in large blocks of time, but that's not the only way. Here are some other techniques that can help.

Coding Philosophy

What does being a software architect mean?

I was recently asked: "What does being a software architect mean?" Here is my answer.