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General LabVIEW Question

For those of you who know more about computing languages than me. I have
been
using LabVIEW for over a year and a half now and wonder how I could ever
have done without
it. I can work ten times faster and the presentation is more
professional.
I was wondering why LabVIEW was unknown outside engineering (and
Science).
It is obviously (or could be) a general programming language. Is it too
expensive
or too taylored for engineers? A long time ago people used to talk about
so called 5th generation
computers and languages. Now we have such a language why is nobody using
it and instead
doing things the old fashioned way with ordinary code? (be that C++ or
whatever)
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Message 1 of 8
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James,

Four and a half years ago, I answered and ad to a company I wanted to work for that required something called LabVIEW. I literally walked into the recruiter's office and asked her what it was. I then spent 1 week learning it (okay, so I had programmed before, but that was 12 years prior...you know, before the days of C++...) Back then, I had no idea what LabVIEW was.

LabVIEW is very rapidly becoming a status quo language. I have watched the job searches for LabVIEW grow from none, to a veritable plethora of choices, at least, in key cities where high tech is king.

LabVIEW, in my opinion, is gaining acceptance as a viable language for use not only in physics and testing, but now in many other applications, such as internet programming.

I have heard it described as a niche language, one that only fits a certain need or is used in only certain industries. Last year, no one, I mean no one (sorry to the exceptions, but I am making a point here) was using LabVIEW for testing cell phones. But now, I am aware of several projects that do just that. Two years ago, I heard from a fellow that he was going to be the first one to use LabVIEW exclusively to control a complete manufacturing device. Now, I have worked on several projects where LabVIEW is not only the instrument and DAQ inteface, but the GUI and test executive as well.

Some of your questions should be directed (and I assume they are) at National Instruments. NI is doing a great job, in my opinion, of getting the word out about LabVIEW. They have a remarkable help desk, a great palette of example programs the likes of which I have never seen in any other language, and have made alliances with a great many companies to co-market products. You are in the midst of what NI calls a revolution, and what could really be considered the transition from infancy to standard use of LabVIEW. With the addition of tools such as the GOOP toolkit, Realtime, and LabVIEW for Linux, LabVIEW is now more equal to other powerful languages. I forsee the day, quite soon, where many community colleges will be offering courses in LabVIEW. Yeah, you marketing guys at NI say "Whoa..that's our training income", but the idea of teaching the language at that level is one that is sure to guarantee LabVIEW will become standard. Oh, and calling LabVIEW a programming language is not something a lot of people do. It was considered an environment, a tool, but not really a programming language. I think that LabVIEW, or "G" as NI likes to refer to it, is now deserving of being called a programming language in every sense.

Keep up the coding.
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Message 2 of 8
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I think it is best to adopt a balanced approach. Recognize the strengths
and weaknesses of the available tools (e.g., LabView, C++ etc.) and use them
appropriately to solve the problem at hand. I think C++ and LabView make a
great combination. C++ is scaleable, very fast, provides excellent
multi-threading and real-time capabilities while LabView provides: ease of
GUI programming, robust control capabilities within a flexible framework.
Sure you could play nine holes with 7 iron only but it is best to use a
driver at the tee, an iron down the fairway and a putter on the green. I
have achieved excellent synnergy by using the above strategy.

John

"Labviewguru" wrote in message
news:506500000005000000D43E0000-998975444000@exchange.ni.com...
> James,
>
> Four and a half years ago, I answered and ad to a company I wanted to
> work for that required something called LabVIEW. I literally walked
> into the recruiter's office and asked her what it was. I then spent 1
> week learning it (okay, so I had programmed before, but that was 12
> years prior...you know, before the days of C++...) Back then, I had
> no idea what LabVIEW was.
>
> LabVIEW is very rapidly becoming a status quo language. I have
> watched the job searches for LabVIEW grow from none, to a veritable
> plethora of choices, at least, in key cities where high tech is king.
>
> LabVIEW, in my opinion, is gaining acceptance as a viable language for
> use not only in physics and testing, but now in many other
> applications, such as internet programming.
>
> I have heard it described as a niche language, one that only fits a
> certain need or is used in only certain industries. Last year, no
> one, I mean no one (sorry to the exceptions, but I am making a point
> here) was using LabVIEW for testing cell phones. But now, I am aware
> of several projects that do just that. Two years ago, I heard from a
> fellow that he was going to be the first one to use LabVIEW
> exclusively to control a complete manufacturing device. Now, I have
> worked on several projects where LabVIEW is not only the instrument
> and DAQ inteface, but the GUI and test executive as well.
>
> Some of your questions should be directed (and I assume they are) at
> National Instruments. NI is doing a great job, in my opinion, of
> getting the word out about LabVIEW. They have a remarkable help desk,
> a great palette of example programs the likes of which I have never
> seen in any other language, and have made alliances with a great many
> companies to co-market products. You are in the midst of what NI
> calls a revolution, and what could really be considered the transition
> from infancy to standard use of LabVIEW. With the addition of tools
> such as the GOOP toolkit, Realtime, and LabVIEW for Linux, LabVIEW is
> now more equal to other powerful languages. I forsee the day, quite
> soon, where many community colleges will be offering courses in
> LabVIEW. Yeah, you marketing guys at NI say "Whoa..that's our
> training income", but the idea of teaching the language at that level
> is one that is sure to guarantee LabVIEW will become standard. Oh,
> and calling LabVIEW a programming language is not something a lot of
> people do. It was considered an environment, a tool, but not really a
> programming language. I think that LabVIEW, or "G" as NI likes to
> refer to it, is now deserving of being called a programming language
> in every sense.
>
> Keep up the coding.
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Message 3 of 8
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Greetings

I am using LabVIEW version 7.1 with a National Instruments PCI-6713 12bit.

I am not at all familiar with the LabVIEW program.

Can anybody please provide a (simple) voltage data acquisition software?

It will be used to obtain data from some brand new Kistler pressure sensors for a Research Project.

One or two channel does not matter - if one I will use one pressure sensor at a time.

Grateful for any assistance; ofcourse recognition will be possible in any acknowledgements and/or publications if desired...
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Message 4 of 8
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duplicate post

 

Do NOT post the same question multiple times and stop hijacking unrelated threads.

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Message 5 of 8
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You know, you actually added to a thread that is about 8 years old and probably pretty stale. Please start a new thread, with a relavant title. (All guestions here are about LabVIEW one way or another! :))

 

Have you looked at the examples that ship with LabVIEW? I am sure you'll find something useful. 😉

 

Still, you probably should start with a few easy tutorials.

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Message 6 of 8
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I think price is probably the biggest reason LV doesn't experience astronomical growth. Few of us can fork out $5K a year for software.

 

Also, I agree in principle that LV has gone way beyond a "niche" language and well into the mainstream. However, no language can do everything. It's always a good idea to know at least one other language to fall back on.

PaulG.

LabVIEW versions 5.0 - 2020

“All programmers are optimists”
― Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
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Message 7 of 8
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It is interesting to see a reply to a post 8 years ago.Smiley Happy

 

By the way, anyone here give an overview of current LV development at a general purpose language?

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Message 8 of 8
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