[idealmedtech]

I'd disagree about debugging; you can create custom probes for any given wire that run arbitrary code whenever the data gets updated, that combined with the ability to "hold wire values" aka program state, after execution has finished (or even paused) is a godsend.

Re: merging; yes absolutely, this is totally broken. NI should either release the file format for VIs, or offer conversion to something saner like XML, which you could easily build a nice git-diff tool for.

I maintain that LabVIEW is a good language with a terrible teaching problem; you can do so much if you just master the queued message handler architecture, and you can do things in a way that are extendible and maintainable for years afterwards