21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium holding computer-executable instructions for building instrument or front panels, the instructions when executed causing a computing device to: provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for rendering and placing components on an instrument or front panel, the GUI displaying the instrument or front panel to a user; associate a textual language program with the instrument or front panel, the textual language program separately displayed and including code for the execution of one or more components in the instrument or front panel, the display of the textual language program occurring in a window, the window displaying at least one control allowing a user to switch between threads of execution, the threads of execution comprising two or more of: an initialization procedure, a foreground task, a background task, a timed execution task, an event-driven execution task, and a termination procedure, at least one component on the instrument or front panel: displaying input or output values for the textual language program during execution of the textual language program, directly corresponding with, and interacting only with, a section of code in the textual language program, and not interacting with or corresponding with a graphical diagram; and run the instrument or front panel continuously when the textual language program is executing.
21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium holding computer-executable instructions for building instrument or front panels, the instructions when executed causing a computing device to: provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for rendering and placing components on an instrument or front panel, the GUI displaying the instrument or front panel to a user; associate a textual language program with the instrument or front panel, the textual language program separately displayed and including code for the execution of one or more components in the instrument or front panel, the display of the textual language program occurring in a window, the window displaying at least one control allowing a user to switch between threads of execution, the threads of execution comprising two or more of: an initialization procedure, a foreground task, a background task, a timed execution task, an event-driven execution task, and a termination procedure, at least one component on the instrument or front panel: displaying input or output values for the textual language program during execution of the textual language program, directly corresponding with, and interacting only with, a section of code in the textual language program, and not interacting with or corresponding with a graphical diagram; and run the instrument or front panel continuously when the textual language program is executing. 23. The medium of claim 21 wherein the GUI enables a user to set properties of the components in the display of the instrument or front panel.