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LabVIEW has a large number of external functions that you can use to perform simple and complex operations. These functions, organized into libraries called managers, range from low-level byte manipulation to routines for sorting data and managing memory. All manager routines are platform-independent. If you use the manager routines, you can create external code that works on all platforms that LabVIEW supports. LabVIEW contains the following manager functions:

• Memory manager
• File manager
• Support manager

To achieve platform independence, data types should not depend on the peculiarities of various compilers. For example, the C language does not define the size of an integer. Without an explicit definition of the size of each data type, you have difficulty creating code that works identically across multiple compilers. LabVIEW managers use data types that explicitly indicate the size of the data type. For example, if a routine requires a 4-byte integer as a parameter, you define the parameter as an int32. The managers define data types in terms of the fundamental data types for each compiler. Thus, on one compiler, the managers might define an int32 as an int, while on another compiler, the managers might define an int32 as a long int. When you write external code, use the manager data types instead of the host computer data types so your code is more portable and has fewer errors.