Chapter 2 - LabVIEW Programming Environment

Abstract

LabVIEW includes a graphical programming environment that allows designing and analyzing a digital signal processing (DSP) system in a shorter time as compared to text-based programming environments. LabVIEW graphical programs are commonly called virtual instruments (VIs). These programs are based on the concept of data flow programming, which means that the execution of a block or a graphical component is dependent on the flow of data. Data flow programming allows multiple operations to be performed in parallel, because its execution depends on the flow of data and not on sequential lines of code. VIs consist of two major components—a front panel (FP) and a block diagram (BD). FP provides the user-interface of a program and BD includes its graphical code. LabVIEW VIs is generally modular, that allows any VI or subVI to be run by itself. Express VIs constitutes higher-level VIs that are configured to incorporate lower level VIs or functions. Various tools are available for debugging and profiling Vis, such as the probe tool and the profile tool.