LabView vs LabWindows/CVI

[ramulu]

Hi tbob,

Thanks for reply. What about 'maintenance' of code for next 30years? Which one is easy to maintain, LabView or LabWindows?

Thanks

Ram

[jyce]

Well versionning control on C file is not really an issue, any C compiler will be able to do the Job in 30 years. As long as you archive NI librairies with your sources.

[F._Schubert]

For LV, most people use SNV as SCC. Works well, but merge/diff are not as good as with any text based programming language.

If you think about 'maintanance' as improving/changing the code, I'd vote for LV, as the graphical code makes it really easy to get what the original programmer did and it`s easy to get where you need to fix the code. (with the assumtion, but applies to any language, that you are familiar with design patterns).

Felix

[Ben]

Can any of speak for 30 years from now?

30 years ago I was teaching myself C (just plain C back then) and an associate who did COBOL and Fortran seriously questioned the wisdom of learning C when we can do all of the same thing in COBOL or Fortran.

Are there even electrolytic caps that have a shelf life of 30 years?

Following that line of thought, we should then be asking "what is the better bet, that there will still be people who understand C++ in 2040 or will LV have taken over the world by then?"

Ben

[ramulu]

Hi,

30years is possible in my company. I'm working on project which is 25years old. And it still has some more life. Ofcourse, I'm working on DOS, C etc.

Thanks

Ram

[jyce]

Well, i'm working myself in aerospace, so i've been running in the same issue since i restart this topic. And as i said. Every code that needs to go through production test and certification should be done with  LabWindow, while engineer tools my be design with LabVIEW to reduce time to market and be more user friendly.

[tbob]

30 years from now Labview will still be easier to use than CVI.  The question of which should be used for production depends upon if you have government auditors or not.  They love C because it is text based.  I have used Labview for production testing in many projects and it is far easier to maintain than CVI in my opinion.  Of course it also depends on the programmer and how well he made his code.  You can screw up in any language, including Labview.  But I have found that even non-programmers can look at Labview code, figure out what is going on, and make some minor changes.  It is that intuitive.  That is not the case with C.  Take two programs side by side, one written in Labview and one written in C, and neither of them has any comments.  You will be able to understand what is happening in the Labview code far easier and faster than in the C code.

[jyce]

But what happen with LV, if you design a VI with LV2010, install the run time for 2010 on the production computer. Does it means that you have to recompile your VI for the 2030 run time engine ? or you never upgrade your IDE ? stick to 2010 for 30 years ?

C does not care for those considerations. Can you have several runtime engine on the machine, and leave the VI call the right one ? How do you manage VI from different version in Test Stand then ?

[tbob]

You don't ever have to upgrade.  30 years from now you can still use LV 2010.  I know one companiy that is still using 5.1.1 to this day and they are doing fine.  You can have several LV versions on your PC at one time.  But I'm not sure how it works if you run an older VI on a PC that has several versions on it, how does it pick the correct runtime library.  I think you have to manually open the old LV version then run the old code.  Maybe someone can answer this one.

[Ray.R]

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@jyce wrote:

Well, i'm working myself in aerospace, so i've been running in the same issue since i restart this topic. And as i said. Every code that needs to go through production test and certification should be done with  LabWindow, while engineer tools my be design with LabVIEW to reduce time to market and be more user friendly.

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I work in the same industry and I have not been able to convince them that LabVIEW would do the trick and faster.  Of course, all my collegues program in CVI and probably don't have any LV experience.  We work mostly in VxWorks and some CVI..  Well others would say more CVI and a bit of VxWorks (or none) depending on whom you speak with 😄

But no LabVIEW.. 😞

It is funny going back and forth between languages.  You wouldn't think it, but you get in one or the other "groove" and you forget small things, until the groove switches..  It's hard to explain, but program in one language, switch for 2 years and switch back..  Interesting...  😉