There is a feature hidden on the LabVIEW function palettes that implements a very useful bit of functionality, but unfortunately is not being used nearly enough. I am speaking of the Compound Arithmetic node which can be found on either the Numeric or Boolean palette. Despite its name, the node does far more than simple “Arithmetic”. In this post we’ll consider how it can and should be used to help us implement logic operations.

Most folks use it when they need to save space while implementing a logic gate with more than 2 inputs, but there is a lot more functionality hidden inside it. For example, have you ever gotten tied up in the logic of what you feel should be a pretty simple operation, but end up spend a lot of time figuring it out? Well this little node can help you define logic using a simple, straightforward process.

Ever look at a logical operation in a piece of inherited code (or worse code you wrote yourself six months ago) and sat scratching your head trying to figure out what the original developer was trying to do? Well this node can help you learn not only what the developer wanted, but what they were thinking.

Augustus De Morgan: The Other Big Name in Binary Logic

I first learned about binary and logic gates while going through electronics school in the United States Air Force. However, when I got out and found my first civilian job, I saw a gate on a schematic that looked like something like this:

I of course knew what an AND gate was, but what was the deal with all the extra bubbles? When I asked an engineer I worked with about the symbol, he explained that it’s just another way of drawing an OR gate. When I asked why the designer didn’t just draw an OR gate, he explained (somewhat irritated) that the designer couldn’t because an OR gate means something different. So I asked one more question, “Well, if it’s the same as an OR gate how can it mean something different?”. The engineer responded (this time, decidedly irritated), “Because one is an OR gate and one is an AND gate!” At this point he stomped off praying under his breath for some unnamed deity to give him strength when dealing with, “stupid technicians”.

OK, so this mystery gate with all the extra bubbles is just another way of drawing an OR gate, but somehow it also managed to mean something different from an OR gate. In other words, it is simultaneously the same-as and different-from an OR gate. At this point, my head began to hurt as I wondered how functions that allowed this sort of confusion could be called “logic”.

Somewhat later I discovered Augustus De Morgan, and specifically De Morgan’s Law which stated (in the linguistic gobbledygook that mathematicians seem to love):

• The negation of a conjunction is the disjunction of the negations.
• The negation of a disjunction is the conjunction of the negations.

Uh, right… or in normal in English: If you draw the truth-tables for an AND gate with all its inputs and the output inverted and an OR gate you will see that they are in fact identical. Likewise, the opposite is also true. The truth table for an OR gate with all its inputs and output inverted is the same as that for an AND gate. Well, that explained the bit about the modified gate symbol being, “…another way of drawing an OR gate.”

But what about the part where they mean different things? Again De Morgan provided the answer, not in the form of another pithily worded law, but in the basic meaning of the word “meaning”. Coming from the background I did, the output of a logic gate was either high or low, on or off, +4.5V or 0V. It never occurred to me that these signals could have a broader meaning — like a low on this input means that something important has happened, or even basic concepts like true and false. This realization made the engineer’s last statement make sense. An OR gate and an AND gate express fundamentally different logical ideas, regardless of how their inputs and output might be inverted.

At its most basic, an OR gate says, I want a given output when any input is in the indicated state. By contrast, the message an AND gate delivers is that I want a given output when all inputs are in the indicated states. So they really do mean different things. Still while this discussion may have been interesting, and perhaps even intellectually stimulating, if there is no practical applications of the knowledge, we have wasted our time. However the preceding discussions has several very practical implications. To begin with, it points the way to the possibility of creating code that not only defines a given functionality, but can actually provide insight into what you were thinking as you were designing and implementing the code. Moreover, due to the way LabVIEW implements the Compound Arithmetic node, you can easily build-up even complex logic operations through a simple 3-step process. To see how this works, let’s walk through a simple example that shows all the steps.

Setting-up the Example

The example we’ll consider is developing the logic that either allows a while loop to keep running or causes it to stop — depending upon your point of view. We know that, by default, passing a Boolean true to the conditional node causes the loop to stop at the end of the current iteration. Now we can change that behavior by right-clicking on the conditional node — but why bother? Here is skeleton of the loop that we’ll be controlling.

The goal will be to control the operation of the loop where we have two values upon which to make our control decisions: a scaled random number that is measured against a range of 0 to 975, and the number of loop iterations which tested to determine whether or not it is equal to 5o.

Defining the Output

Our first challenge is to decide what we are wanting to do: Let the loop run until something is true, or let the loop run as long as something is not true? Either one would work equally well, but given the specifics of the code you’re working on, one may represent how you are thinking about the task at hand better than the other. You want to use the one that better fits your thinking.

To implement this first decision, place a Compound Arithmetic node on the diagram and if you are thinking that the loop should run until something happens leave the output as is, otherwise right click on the node’s output terminal and select Invert from the pop-up menu. I’ll invert the output.

Defining the Core Logic

To this point, we have been talking in generalities about “something” happening or not happening. Now we need to drill down a bit and start defining the “something”. Specifically, do we want the event to be flagged when all the inputs are in particular states or when any of the inputs are in particular states? The answer to this question tells us whether we fundamentally want an AND operation or an OR operation. Looking at the logic, I see the two parameters and I want the loop to continue if they are both valid — an AND operation. Now if you get your Compound Arithmetic node from the Boolean palette, the default operation is OR. On the other hand, if you get the node from the Numeric palette you’ll note that the default operation is ADD. In either case you will need to right-click on the node and select AND from the Change Mode… submenu. While we’re at it, let’s wire up our two conditions.

Note that although the run arrow is no longer broken, we aren’t done yet. We still have one more step.

Defining the Inputs

I said earlier that I wanted the gate to test whether all the inputs are valid. So now we need to look at each of the two inputs and identify what the valid state for each. The top terminal is wired to the In Range? output from the In Range and Coerce node. Because this output is true when the input number is in range (and therefore, valid) we will leave its input as is. However the bottom input is coming from logic that is comparing the loop counter to a limit (50). Since that value is a limit, a valid input is one that has not yet reached the limit. Consequently, in this case, a valid number is indicated by the output of the comparison being false. To indicate that fact, right-click on the lower input terminal and select Invert from the popup menu. Here is the finished code.

If you run it you’ll notice that the loop counter indicator will show a variety of values, depending on which of the two conditions stopped the loop, but the count will never be greater than 50.

Admittedly, at first glance the logic gate looks a little strange, but if you deconstruct it by stepping through the foregoing process backwards you can easily what it’s doing. More importantly, though, the structure gives you an insight into what I was thinking when I created the logic. Also note that depending on how you think about what it is that you are doing, there are several other ways the gate could be defined that would give the same functionality.

Until next time…

Mike…