Computing and programming with LabVIEW

In this paper an alternate approach in teaching various computing and programming principles to engineering students utilizing the LabVIEW software is discussed. LabVIEW, acronym for "Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench", is a powerful and robust graphical programming language developed by National Instruments, Inc. for use in various engineering and scientific related fields. At the present time, this software tool is mainly utilized in the industrial, governmental, and educational venues to aid the investigators in conducting laboratory experimentations, and in collection and analysis of recorded data. The submitted paper specifically focuses on the programming capabilities of LabVIEW rather than the utility of this tool in data acquisition and laboratory measurements. All essential and important tools and constructs needed for developing solutions to classical engineering problems are included in LabVIEW. These include capabilities for setting up various conditional structures, loops and Case structures; special handling of array and matrix operations; solving systems of linear algebraic equations; solving differential equations; differentiating and integrating functions; computing zeros of functions; as well as, performing a series of other important computing tasks. Learning the programming principles through using LabVIEW better prepares the students for understanding other more complicated text-based programming languages. The virtual instruments developed for several engineering problems are included in this paper to illustrate the special features, capabilities, and utilities of this powerful and interesting software tool.