PDF (double-sided) - Physics Department, UCSB - University of ...

dent modules, but it also provides some valuable clues for attacking the other
requirements.
Most modern programming languages already have the ability to modularize
source-code, but many of them lack important features to make the provided
facilities sufficient in a physicist driven project. The biggest problem is that most
languages do not have a way to manage and index the available modules. In most
cases the modules are kept somewhere in the file system and are accessed based
on their location or filename.
In a physics lab, this usually leads to one code
repository per group member. Everyone works in their own directories on their
own code using their own conventions. If code is to be shared, usually a copy
is made from one user to another, effectively branching the development of that
module as both users will now make edits to their copies of the code. Duplication
of effort is extremely common due to the difficulties involved in reusing code. This
is further aggravated by the general lack of documentation.
To alleviate these problems, LabRAD takes modularization from the sourcecode
level to the “executable” level. Every module in LabRAD is developed as
a completely independent program (or script) and the interaction with external
functionality happens at runtime. The different modules communicate via a
well defined protocol through a central dispatching agent, the LabRAD Manager.
When connecting, each module has to identify itself as either a Server Module
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