Changes in Labview Programs Posted to an Online Forum as Users Gain Experience

摘要

Engineers and others can learn to use programming environments such as LabVIEW via online resources,including the LabVIEW forum. However, an interesting challenge in such a diffuse and distributed learningenvironment is assessing to what extent engineers are increasing in programming skill. This paper presentsan analysis exploring the extent to which users’ uploaded programs changed in frequency and complexityover time. This study revealed a high rate of drop-out, a drop in the complexity of programs uploaded tothe forum during the first two years after users’ first (respective) uploads of programs to the forum, and aslow long-term upward trend in complexity. The results highlight the need for further research aimed atassessing and promoting online learning of programming.