The Howdy Glossary

LabVIEW (short for Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) is a systems engineering software for applications that require test, measurement, and control with rapid access to hardware and data insights. As a graphical programming language, LabVIEW uses icons instead of lines of text when creating an application. These user-defined icons directly represent the functions or instrumentation used in the application. The user connects these icons together to create solutions using either the drag-and-drop method or visual programming method without requiring code writing. This makes it possible for engineers and scientists to design tests and monitoring systems by visually composing code modules called virtual instruments (VIs). With its versatility across different industries from electronics and telecommunications to medical device manufacturing, LabVIEW has become a standard tool in many research facilities due to its ability to interface with various devices from numerous vendors.