LabVIEW

LabVIEW (short for Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) is a platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. The graphical language is named "G". Originally released for the Apple Macintosh in 1986, LabVIEW is commonly used for data acquisition, instrument control, and industrial automation on a variety of platforms including Microsoft Windows, various flavors of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS. The latest version of LabVIEW is version 8.5.1, released in April of 2008.

DATAFLOW PROGRAMMING

The programming language used in LabVIEW, called G, is a dataflow programming language. Execution is determined by the structure of a graphical block diagram (the LV-source code) on which the programmer connects different function-nodes by drawing wires. These wires propagate variables and any node can execute as soon as all its input data become available. Since this might be the case for multiple nodes simultaneously, G is inherently capable of parallel execution. Multi-processing and multi-threading hardware is automatically exploited by the built-in scheduler, which multiplexes multiple OS threads over the nodes ready for execution.

Programmers with a background in conventional programming often show a certain reluctance to adopt the LabVIEW dataflow scheme, claiming that LabVIEW is prone to race conditions. In reality, this stems from a misunderstanding of the data-flow paradigm. The aforementioned data-flow (which can be forced, typically by linking inputs and outputs of nodes) completely defines the execution sequence, and that can be fully controlled by the programmer. Thus, the execution sequence of the LabVIEW graphical syntax is as well-defined as with any textually coded language such as C, Visual BASIC, Python etc.[citation needed] Furthermore, LabVIEW does not require type definition of the variables; the wire type is defined by the data-supplying node. LabVIEW supports polymorphism in that wires automatically adjust to various types of data.

GRAPHICAL PROGRAMMING

LabVIEW ties the creation of user interfaces (called front panels) into the development cycle. LabVIEW programs/subroutines are called virtual instruments (VIs). Each VI has three components: a block diagram, a front panel and a connector pane. The latter may represent the VI as a subVI in block diagrams of calling VIs. Controls and indicators on the front panel allow an operator to input data into or extract data from a running virtual instrument. However, the front panel can also serve as a programmatic interface. Thus a virtual instrument can either be run as a program, with the front panel serving as a user interface, or, when dropped as a node onto the block diagram, the front panel defines the inputs and outputs for the given node through the connector pane. This implies each VI can be easily tested before being embedded as a subroutine into a larger program.

The graphical approach also allows non-programmers to build programs by simply dragging and dropping virtual representations of the lab equipment with which they are already familiar. The LabVIEW programming environment, with the included examples and the documentation, makes it simpler to create small applications. This is a benefit on one side but there is also a certain danger of underestimating the expertise needed for good quality "G" programming. For complex algorithms or large-scale code it is important that the programmer possess an extensive knowledge of the special LabVIEW syntax and the topology of its memory management. The most advanced LabVIEW development systems offer the possibility of building stand-alone applications. Furthermore, it is possible to create distributed applications which communicate by a client/server scheme, and thus is easier to implement due to the inherently parallel nature of G-code.

To maintain clean and legible user VI interfaces its best to keep these tips in mind: Keep panels simple and clean, keep a consistent style, clean up wires where ever possible, use proper terminology when labeling controls and indicators.