National Instruments MXI-2 Series Getting Started page 17

Chapter 1 Introduction
PCI-Based MXI-2 Interface for Windows
LabVIEW is an easy-to-use, graphical programming environment you can
use to acquire data from thousands of different instruments, including
IEEE 488.2 devices, VXI devices, serial devices, PLCs, and plug-in data
acquisition boards. After you have acquired raw data, you can convert it
into meaningful results using the powerful data analysis routines in
LabVIEW. LabVIEW also comes with hundreds of instrument drivers,
which dramatically reduce software development time, because you do not
have to spend time programming the low-level control of each instrument.
LabWindows/CVI is an interactive ANSI C programming
environment designed for building virtual instrument applications.
LabWindows/CVI delivers a drag-and-drop editor for building user
interfaces, a complete ANSI C environment for building your test program
logic, and a collection of automated code generation tools, as well as
utilities for building automated test systems, monitoring applications,
or laboratory experiments.
Measurement Studio includes support for Microsoft Visual C++, Visual
Basic, and the .NET platform.
If you want to use these application programs, install them during the
NI-VXI/NI-VISA software installation. LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and
Measurement Studio integrate the VXI and VISA libraries that are required
to support PCI-based MXI-2 products. You also get hundreds of complete
instrument drivers, which are modular source-code programs that handle
the communication with your instrument to speed application development.
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