Chapter 1 Introduction
© National Instruments Corporation 1-3 SC-2043-SG User Manual
minimal modifications to your code. Figure 1-1 illustrates the relationship between NI-DAQ and
LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI.
LabWindows/CVI
(PC or 
Sun SPARCstation)
LabVIEW 
(PC, Macintosh, or 
Sun SPARCstation)
Conventional 
Programming 
Environment 
(PC, Macintosh, or 
Sun SPARCstation)
NI-DAQ
Driver Software
DAQ or 
SCXI Hardware
Personal 
Computer
or
Workstation
Figure 1-1. The Relationship between the Programming Environment,
NI-DAQ, and Your Hardware

Register-Level Programming

The final option for programming any National Instruments DAQ hardware is to write register-
level software. Writing register-level programming software can be very time-consuming and
inefficient and is not recommended for most users.
Even if you are an experienced register-level programmer, consider using NI-DAQ, LabVIEW,
or LabWindows/CVI to program your National Instruments DAQ hardware. Using the NI-DAQ,
LabVIEW, or LabWindows/CVI software is easier than and as flexible as register-level
programming and can save you weeks of development time.
Optional Equipment
Contact National Instruments to order the following optional equipment:
• Single or double height rack-mount kit with acrylic plastic cover
• Single or double height rack-mount kit with metal wraparound cover
• 120 Ω (0.1%, 10 ppm/°C) quarter-bridge completion resistors (eight per package)
• 350 Ω (0.1%, 10 ppm/°C) quarter-bridge completion resistors (eight per package)