Book Description

Best-Practice Style Rules and Standards for Developing Quality LabVIEW Software

Drawing on the experiences of a world-class LabVIEW development organization, The LabVIEW Style Book is the definitive guide to best practices in LabVIEW development.

Leading LabVIEW development manager Peter A. Blume presents practical guidelines or “rules” for optimizing every facet of your applications: ease of use, efficiency, readability, simplicity, performance, maintainability, and robustness. Blume explains each style rule thoroughly, presenting realistic examples and illustrations. He even presents “nonconforming” examples that show what not to do–and why not.

Coverage includes

• Significance of style: How good style improves quality and actually saves time over the full project life cycle

• Before you code: Configuring your LabVIEW environment, and organizing your files on disk and in the LabVIEW project

• LabVIEW project specifications: A specialized standard for specifying LabVIEW application requirements

• Efficient VI layout and development: front panel, block diagram, icons, and connectors

• Data structures: Choosing data types, efficient use of arrays and clusters, and special considerations with nested data structures

• Error handling strategies: Trapping and reporting errors for robust and reliable applications

• Design patterns: Standard VI architectures and application frameworks that promote good style

• Documentation: Essential rules for source code documentation and streamlining the process

• Code reviews: Enforcing a style convention using a checklist, the LabVIEW VI Analyzer Toolkit, and peer reviews

• Appendixes: Convenient glossary and style rules summary

This book will be indispensable to anyone who wants to develop or maintain quality LabVIEW applications: developers, managers, and end users alike. Additionally, it will also be valuable to those preparing for NI’s Certified LabVIEW Developer or Certified LabVIEW Architect exams, which contain significant content on development style.

Foreword by Darren Nattinger  xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments  xx

About the Author  xxii

Chapter 1          The Significance of Style  1

Chapter 2          Prepare for Good Style  21

Chapter 3          Front Panel Style  47

Chapter 4          Block Diagram  87

Chapter 5          Icon and Connector  129

Chapter 6          Data Structures  157

Chapter 7          Error Handling  203

Chapter 8          Design Patterns  239

Chapter 9          Documentation  299

Chapter 10        Code Reviews  319

Appendix A       Glossary  339

Appendix B       Style Rules Summary  349

Index  357

About the Author

Peter Blume is the founder and president of Bloomy Controls, Inc., a National Instruments Select Integration Partner that specializes in LabVIEW-based systems development. Since LabVIEW Version 2.5, Blume and his staff of engineers have solved more than a thousand industrial applications for customers throughout the northeastern United States. To promote consistent quality among multiple developers in multiple offices, Blume established and evolved the company’s LabVIEW development practices.

Blume has written and presented multiple LabVIEW style-related presentations, including Bloomy Controls’ Professional LabVIEW Development Guidelines at NIWeek 2002 and Five Techniques for Better LabVIEW Code at NIWeek 2003. He also has published technical articles in various trade publications, including Test & Measurement World, Evaluation Engineering, Electronic Design, and Desktop Engineering.

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