Pass Your CLD/CLA Exams the JKI Way | JKI Blog

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Posted on January 25, 2011 by JKI

NI LabVIEW Idea Exchange user SteveChandler recently expressed his wish that
the JKI State Machine shipped with LabVIEW so he could use it for his Certified
LabVIEW Developer exam (CLD). This is a great idea, and it would be terrific if NI let
professional developers use the best LabVIEW tools and LabVIEW libraries on exam
day. But that day, if it ever comes, is probably a long way off.
In the meantime, we have a different suggestion: memorize enough of your
favorite state machine template to recreate it from scratch in 10 minutes or
less. You can do this with any template, but were going to show you how we do it
with the JKI State Machine (JKISM) when we train engineers to take the Certified
LabVIEW Architect exam (CLA).
How to Create a Basic JKI State Machine From Scratch in 10 Minutes
You dont need the worlds greatest template to rock your CLD or CLA exam. There
are only a few features you really need to feel like youre working with the JKISM:
Your own version of the Add State(s) to Queue VI to manage your state queue.
A basic version of the Parse State Queue VI to drive your case structure.
A few simple, standard states:
Idle, with an Event Structure for catching UI events
Default, with an exception handler to raise an error when you misspell a state
name
Error Handler, to catch and process any errors that occur
Exit, to exit your state machine
Data: Initialize, to set up your state machines local data

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Thats only a handful of things, and theyre all simple! Well describe them, and then
if you practice them for about an hour the day before your test, youll have no
trouble replicating them on the fly come test time.
Your Very Own Add State(s) to Queue
The JKISMs Add State(s) to Queue VI is pretty easy. It just ensures that every
incoming state (or state queue) ends with a linefeed (LF), and throws some Trim
Whitespace operations in there so the resulting state queue doesnt have extra LFs
hanging around. Its not hard to literally memorize this VI and recreate it from
scratch.

Your Very Own Parse State Queue

Parse State Queue is a little more complicated, but the trick is that you only need a
simplified version of it. In particular, you need it to extract the first line from a
multi-line string state queue, and branch to the Error Handler. Thats really it.
You dont need to handle disabled states (or state comments), nor do you need to
handle state arguments. This eliminates the vast majority of the VIs code

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and leaves you again with something you can definitely memorize:

Now Go Make a State Machine Template!

The two VIs you just created are the building blocks of your state machine: they
enqueue and dequeue states. Now you just have to glue them together to form the
skeleton of a working application.
A few basic states of the JKISM will give you everything you need. Rather than
listening to me describe each of them, though, just download the JKI State Machine
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(VIPM users can install it directly) and see them for yourself. Theyre all pretty trivial.
The hardest part is remembering which states are important. We use a mnemonic
to help:
I Idle
Doubt Default
Elvis Error Handler (or, if you prefer, ELVIS)
Ever Exit
Died Data: Initialize
These five states give you a functional, extensible state machine with support for
events, local state data, and error handling. Speaking from experience, thats all you
need.
OK, Its Not Really ALL You Need
Memorizing your favorite state machine template will definitely make your CLD or
CLA exam experience easier because you wont have to worry about using unfamiliar
design patterns or sweating to figure something out on the fly. But dont neglect the
other aspects of exam preparation! In particular, dont miss Darren Nattingers great
advice on Preparing for the CLD and recent Changes to the CLA. Good luck!
Do you have tips for helping developers pass their CLD or CLA exam? Any horror
stories from your own exam? Join the discussion below!
Put your LabVIEW Certification to Use Join Our Team
Want to work with an amazing team on exciting LabVIEW projects that change the
world? Apply for a position at JKI.

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This entry was posted in Community, JKI Software Products, JKI State Machine, LabVIEW and tagged certification, cla, cld,
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8 Responses to Pass Your CLD/CLA Exams the JKI Way

Matt Bradley says:
January 25, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Just passed the CLD exam myself and I was thinking some of the same thoughts. I spent the first 10 or
15 minutes re-creating my favorite state machine. That being said, I think the real key to passing the
CLD is getting the low hanging fruit 25 out of the 40 points are relatively easy and take up probably
about 30 to 45 minutes by that I mean the documentation and style points.

Now I have to start preparing for the CLA

Chris Roebuck says:

March 10, 2011 at 2:05 pm

Justin,
I think this is a great article. Having something that you can easily re-create in 15 minutes is a great
starting point. I also have to agree with Matt. The documentation and style are easy points and should
be second nature to us all.

I remember sitting my CLD many years ago and knowing that I could spend the first 15 minutes putting
together a state machine (IN my case it was a fairly simple QSM) really took the pressure off, helped
keep me calm and let me focus on addressing all of the requirements. The CLA was a little tougher but
same principle applies..

Bo Fu says:
June 2, 2011 at 7:39 am

Hi Justin,
This is a very helpful post. Since I havent used JKISM before and I would like to give it a shot. In your
simplified state machine, can we use enqueue and dequeue to operate the state? That seems more
straightforward. And probabily I would use a customized enum instead of a text control as the state.

Cheers,

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Bo

Pingback: Preparing for LabVIEW CLD exam (2) Let's LabVIEW

Claude Ceniza says:

February 15, 2014 at 5:43 am

I passed my CLD eam using the JKI state machine. Awesome!

Pingback: New Training Course: JKI State Machine for LabVIEW | JKI Blog

Ajayvignesh says:
June 9, 2015 at 10:22 pm

Nice post. When I took my CLD back in 2013, we targetted to reproduce favourite state machine not in
10 minutes, but in 20 minutes. Rather it was not string based, but enum-queue based state machine! Im
preparing to take up my CLA exam. Thanks for the post, I can give try at JKISM.

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