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

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 learning environment is assessing to what extent engineers are increasing in programming skill. This paper presents an analysis exploring the extent to which users’ uploaded programs changed in frequency and complexity over time. This study revealed a high rate of drop-out, a drop in the complexity of programs uploaded to the forum during the first two years after users’ first (respective) uploads of programs to the forum, and a slow long-term upward trend in complexity. The results highlight the need for further research aimed at assessing and promoting online learning of programming.