Untypical uses for LabVIEW : G Abuse

Question

I was just thinking about the times where I have used LabVIEW for things which LabVIEW wasn't actually conceived. I have used it for things as simple as replacing all \n with \r\n in a text file (Whoo hasn't, right?), to a general stopwatch on the desktop to a relatively complex data analysis software (Which dealt purely with text, no graphical output, no instrument control and so on).
I'm sure there are plenty out there who can give much better examples of areas where LV can be used which aren't within the "typical" field of automation.
There are a few discussions going on that LV WILL become a general purpose language. I personally find it interesting to acknowledge that the LV programming style defnitely offers benefits far beyond the SCADA market. Where is LV already good, and where could it be better? Especially OUTSIDE the SCADA market....
How about some examples.
Shane.
Using LV 6.1 and 8.2.1 on W2k (SP4) and WXP (SP2)

Answer 1

I've said it before, I'll say it again: LabVIEW is a terrible name, because it's hard to pronounce (at least for me). B and V together just don't work.
Now, to the topic of the thread:
There is actually a project in the pipes for general open source software written in G. This is supposed to push both developers and LV forwards by doing stuff that's not "native" to LV, and (if the programs will be good enough) maybe help spread the LV word around to people who don't know it.
At the moment this is still in the very initial stages of planning, and is debated offline, but hopefully soon enough responses we are waiting for will arrive and we will know better how well this will fare. This project still doesn't have parents like OpenG, so its exact nature is still unclear. We will post more on this when we have a better idea. Anyone wishing to comment\make suggestion\volunteer to help can do so here or send an email to [email protected] . Be warned that you are unlikely to receive a personal response if you send an email there, but I promise to try and read them all. So far that box is spam-free and I hope it can stay that way.
Incidentally, my suggestion for an opening move for this project was to ask people to design some games in LV, since those are more fun. The obvious types are board games, mind games, puzzles, maybe some old style arcade games. An important thing to remember is that people have different OSes and different versions of LV, so an older version and pure G code are preferable. Since this is still in planning, I suggest that people just start writing and not post here, but wait until more light has been shed on this project.
Personal P.S.
In my opinion, unless NI does a major switch, this will be somewhat doomed to fail. I know there are people in NI who are pushing to make LV more general, but I still don't see LV competing in the near future with many of the things Java or C can do. This is not necessarily unjustified. NI makes its money from selling to a specific market and offering its product at lower costs to a wider market is not something they have to do. It is something many users hope they will choose to do, however, which is one of the main reasons this project was suggested.
Like I said, more updates will follow in the future (don't expect it to be tomorrow).
Try to take over the world!