Programmers develop software applications every day in order to increase efficiencyand productivity in various situations. LabVIEW, as a programming language, is apowerful tool that can be used to help achieve these goals. LabVIEW (LaboratoryVirtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) is a graphically-based programminglanguage developed by National Instruments. Its graphical nature makes it ideal fortest and measurement (T&M), automation, instrument control, data acquisition, anddata analysis applications. This results in significant productivity improvements overconventional programming languages. National Instruments focuses on products forT&M, giving them a good insight into developing LabVIEW.This chapter will provide a brief introduction to LabVIEW. Some basic topicswill be covered to give you a better understanding of how LabVIEW works andhow to begin using it. This chapter is not intended to teach beginners LabVIEWprogramming thoroughly. Those wishing to learn LabVIEW should consider attendinga National Instruments LabVIEW Basics course. If you have prior experience with LabVIEW, you can skip thischapter and proceed to the advanced chapters.First, VIs and their components will be discussed, followed by LabVIEW'sdataflow programming paradigm. Then, several topics related to creating VIs willbe covered by explaining the front panel and block diagram. The chapter willconclude with des criptions of icons and setting preferences.