Date: 04/08/2010

NI's LabVIEW 2010: faster compilation, FPGA support and more partner support

National Instruments has released the LabVIEW 2010, the latest version of the graphical programming environment for design, test, measurement and control applications. LabVIEW 2010 comes with new features such as off-the-shelf compiler technologies that execute code faster. LabVIEW 2010 delivers a new IP Integration Node to integrate any third-party FPGA IP into LabVIEW applications and is compatible with the Xilinx CORE Generator. National Instruments also added 12+ new features suggested by its users through the LabVIEW Idea Exchange.

"LabVIEW users are some of the most innovative people in the world, and their input helps us make LabVIEW an ever more effective and productive programming tool," said Jeff Kodosky, National Instruments business and technology fellow, cofounder and 'father of LabVIEW.' "With LabVIEW 2010, we have taken their feedback and suggestions and opened up the platform to further customization so that our customers and partners can expand LabVIEW to new applications that have not yet experienced the power and efficiency of graphical programming."

With LabVIEW 2010, the compiler data flow intermediate representation has been further optimized, and Low-Level Virtual Machine (LLVM), an open source compiler infrastructure, has been added to the software's compiler flow to accelerate code execution. National Instruments claims the new compiler delivers an average improvement of 20 percent across these benchmarks.

National Instruments is also introducing the LabVIEW Add-On Developer Program to allow its partners to expand the platform and introduce custom functionality into LabVIEW. The program establishes an online marketplace as part of the updated LabVIEW Tools Network for developers to offer their free and paid toolkits and a comprehensive location for LabVIEW users to browse, download, evaluate and purchase the add-ons. More than 50 add-ons from NI and third-party developers are available, including code reuse libraries, templates, UI controls and connectors to other software packages. Additionally, LabVIEW users can use the VI Package Manager from JKI to connect directly to the LabVIEW Tools Network from their desktop and manage add-on installations and updates.

LabVIEW now provides a new hardware configuration tool that makes it possible for users to access and configure their LabVIEW Real-Time targets remotely via a Web browser. Other features include a smart installer that automatically detects the software associated with a serial number for faster installation and an improved instrument driver finder that offers prebuilt project examples for specific instruments.

LabVIEW 2010 includes new features that improve interfaces to reusable code, group VIs and their hierarchy for faster build times and separate the VI source code from the compiled version to aid in source code management. These capabilities are ideal for large group development where code maintenance across many users, software versions and computer platforms is critical.

Price: Lab VIEW 2010 is priced at US$1,249

Availability: Now