LabVIEW
LabVIEW 7 Express newbie questions
Bob,
Khalid nicely answered some of your question.
About your ZoneAlarm question: LabVIEW incorporates lots of networking functionality, it can act as web server and can use datasocket communications, etc. if so configured. As far as I can tell, LabVIEW does not access the internet, but uses TCP for some of the communications within its modules. For example, If I start LabVIEW or the example finder, netstat shows a collection of connections from/to the reserved localhost address (127.0.0.1). Example:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>netstat -n
Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 127.0.0.1:3230 127.0.0.1:3580 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3231 127.0.0.1:3580 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3232 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3233 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3234 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3235 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3236 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3237 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3238 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3239 TIME_WAIT
These are perfectly safe and should be allowed. Packets never leave your computer. Zonealarm is sometimes too paranoid.
Of course LabVIEW itself can act as web server or datasocket server if so configured. Also some of the examples demonstrate network communications.
I have a good collection of packet sniffers and other network monitoring equipment (some even written in LabVIEW 😉 ). E.g. I can record every single packet that traverses our ZyWALL 70 that protects our Lab Network from the rest of the world. I have detailed traces during starting of LabVIEW or Example Finder and they are clean. Also notice that the Example Finder contains direct links to the NI support site and thus can act as internet client. If you ever want to use that functionality, you must allow it to access the internet!
In summary, you can fully trust anything from National Instruments. There is no sleazy phone-home functionality, no malware/spyware/adware component, no hidden usage profiling, it does not even check for program updates. 😉
I have used LabVIEW for 8 years on a daily basis and had never seen the slightest indication of anything suspicious. On the contrary, National Instruments is one of the few companies that seems to do everything the correct way in this area.
Khalid nicely answered some of your question.
About your ZoneAlarm question: LabVIEW incorporates lots of networking functionality, it can act as web server and can use datasocket communications, etc. if so configured. As far as I can tell, LabVIEW does not access the internet, but uses TCP for some of the communications within its modules. For example, If I start LabVIEW or the example finder, netstat shows a collection of connections from/to the reserved localhost address (127.0.0.1). Example:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>netstat -n
Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 127.0.0.1:3230 127.0.0.1:3580 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3231 127.0.0.1:3580 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3232 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3233 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3234 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3235 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3236 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3237 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3238 TIME_WAIT
TCP 127.0.0.1:3580 127.0.0.1:3239 TIME_WAIT
These are perfectly safe and should be allowed. Packets never leave your computer. Zonealarm is sometimes too paranoid.
Of course LabVIEW itself can act as web server or datasocket server if so configured. Also some of the examples demonstrate network communications.
I have a good collection of packet sniffers and other network monitoring equipment (some even written in LabVIEW 😉 ). E.g. I can record every single packet that traverses our ZyWALL 70 that protects our Lab Network from the rest of the world. I have detailed traces during starting of LabVIEW or Example Finder and they are clean. Also notice that the Example Finder contains direct links to the NI support site and thus can act as internet client. If you ever want to use that functionality, you must allow it to access the internet!
In summary, you can fully trust anything from National Instruments. There is no sleazy phone-home functionality, no malware/spyware/adware component, no hidden usage profiling, it does not even check for program updates. 😉
I have used LabVIEW for 8 years on a daily basis and had never seen the slightest indication of anything suspicious. On the contrary, National Instruments is one of the few companies that seems to do everything the correct way in this area.
Bob,
Here is a quick summary of some LabVIEW resources that will help you become a master programmer in a short time. Most has been mentioned, but I took the liberty to add some more annotation to help you decide.
(1) The Discussion forums in the Developer Zone at NI. Most are mirrored (both ways) to parallel newsgroups, e.g. the Forum "LabVIEW General" is synchronized to the comp.lang.labview newsgroup. It is not easy to decide between newsgroup and developer forum, both have advantages and disadvantages.
Newsgroups: Many people don't subscribe with their real e-mail address, because they often get harvested by spammers. If you have used newsgroups for a long time and have a favorite newsreader, you'll feel right at home.
Developer forum: Has all the content of the newsgroups, but also has some extra perks that could be useful, such as: Posters can create a user profile that can give some information on their background. The e-mail address in your profile is totally private and safe. Good posters can built up some "karma" over time, which can indicate a certain level of seniority. After a certain number of posts, you can apply to be promoted to "enthusiast". There is also a star rating system that is somewhat useless because it is not defined and users interpretation seems to vary. You can optionally give answers between 1 and 4 stars, but unfortunately only the **** rating has a clear definition for me. Some tend to think that * and ** are negative ratings, while others think that any number of stars are positive and elevate a post above an unrated.
Both support multiple attachments (for example VIs, entire llbs, or sometimes code images). LabVIEW is such a visually oriented language that many times a small diagram can make a point much better than a longwinded explanation in ASCII. (As they say: A VI is worth a thousand lines of code).
(2) The info-LabVIEW mailing list. A mailing list with mostly high-quality discussions. More information on how to subscribe is on the Info-LabVIEW home page. Depending on how much other e-mail you receive, it tends to clutter up your inbox a bit. I have recently switched it to my g-mail account, which automatically sorts the messages by topic. AFAIK, info-labview is strictly ASCII, but since the e-mail addresses are typically valid, members sometimes exchange code out-of-band.
(3) There are other online discussion forums such as the already mentioned LAVA user group (See also the LAVA home page) or the OpenG forum (OpenG Homepage).
For general LabVIEW information, don't forget the LabVIEW Zone. They also run regular conding challenges where you can submit your code entries. The deadline for the current median challenge is by the end of this month. Good luck!
Here is a quick summary of some LabVIEW resources that will help you become a master programmer in a short time. Most has been mentioned, but I took the liberty to add some more annotation to help you decide.
(1) The Discussion forums in the Developer Zone at NI. Most are mirrored (both ways) to parallel newsgroups, e.g. the Forum "LabVIEW General" is synchronized to the comp.lang.labview newsgroup. It is not easy to decide between newsgroup and developer forum, both have advantages and disadvantages.
Newsgroups: Many people don't subscribe with their real e-mail address, because they often get harvested by spammers. If you have used newsgroups for a long time and have a favorite newsreader, you'll feel right at home.
Developer forum: Has all the content of the newsgroups, but also has some extra perks that could be useful, such as: Posters can create a user profile that can give some information on their background. The e-mail address in your profile is totally private and safe. Good posters can built up some "karma" over time, which can indicate a certain level of seniority. After a certain number of posts, you can apply to be promoted to "enthusiast". There is also a star rating system that is somewhat useless because it is not defined and users interpretation seems to vary. You can optionally give answers between 1 and 4 stars, but unfortunately only the **** rating has a clear definition for me. Some tend to think that * and ** are negative ratings, while others think that any number of stars are positive and elevate a post above an unrated.
Both support multiple attachments (for example VIs, entire llbs, or sometimes code images). LabVIEW is such a visually oriented language that many times a small diagram can make a point much better than a longwinded explanation in ASCII. (As they say: A VI is worth a thousand lines of code).
(2) The info-LabVIEW mailing list. A mailing list with mostly high-quality discussions. More information on how to subscribe is on the Info-LabVIEW home page. Depending on how much other e-mail you receive, it tends to clutter up your inbox a bit. I have recently switched it to my g-mail account, which automatically sorts the messages by topic. AFAIK, info-labview is strictly ASCII, but since the e-mail addresses are typically valid, members sometimes exchange code out-of-band.
(3) There are other online discussion forums such as the already mentioned LAVA user group (See also the LAVA home page) or the OpenG forum (OpenG Homepage).
For general LabVIEW information, don't forget the LabVIEW Zone. They also run regular conding challenges where you can submit your code entries. The deadline for the current median challenge is by the end of this month. Good luck!
