Well built graphical programming
March 23, 2019

Well built graphical programming

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with National Instruments LabVIEW

As a small contract engineering company our organization often finds the need to use LabVIEW to write our own programs to solve problems. The software is used primarily by the software and firmware engineers, but several of the mechanical engineers also utilize it. Our organization saves money by writing some simple programs in house instead of sending them out.
  • Being a graphical programming language, it is a little easier for a layperson to understand than text based programming languages.
  • The program has very good debugging features.
  • Support is good.
  • There are a variety of tutorials which make it easier to do something that you aren't sure about.
  • Sometimes backwards compatibility issues arise.
  • Error messages can be confusing.
  • Although it is a graphical programming interface, it has a pretty steep learning curve at first.
  • We are able to save money by writing our own programs instead of outsourcing.
  • We recently bought a new force test stand and we are able to use LabVIEW to write a program that fits our needs exactly instead of making due with what came with the stand.
  • When our customers ask us to do data acquisition, we know that we can always make a solution.
I don't know of any other graphical programming languages that our organization has tried to use or does use. Speaking for myself, I am not familiar with any other graphical programming languages. Comparing to text based programming languages, I feel like it is easier to understand what is going on with LabVIEW.
I think National Instruments LabVIEW is well suited to those who have to run experiments whether that is in a formal lab or a less formal setting. Most of the programs that we write are aimed at some sort of data acquisition using sensors or hardware. LabVIEW is probably also well suited for hobbyists who do not know a written programming language but are willing to take time to use tutorials to figure things out.