PLC Programming Languages of Choice

Edited September 16, 2020 at 11:14 PM

Created Date: April 15,2008

Created by: a agnone

What is the best? I think ladder, stage in peticular is great. I hear and seen a lot of the IEC-61331. The advantage of this code is the ability to program a routine and use it in another program without writing the code again. Some may think this is a cure all for programming errors or make programming easier. It does not matter what you use to program, the end result is to have a working machine. None of the forms of programming substitute the need for structure. You still need good program structure or programming house keeping to program a good solid program. Sure some types of programming are more suited to do more complex operations. But one still needs proper structure or flow to make a good working program. Then there is the cost of some of the computers/plc's that run this new type of code. The cost of AD and using Stage is amazing. We have done things with AD's PLC's that the units costing thousands of dollars do. Plus the setup and learning curve was way shorter than the expensive units. That is not counting the cost to send a couple of our guys to school and phone calls to get the expensive stuff working. So far to date, we have used AD's HMI's, with sound. So far everyone loves the female voice I used. It is so confusing to hear all the beeping. Now they know what machine is having problems. I even gave it a personality to say good morning. We are now mixing robotics with AD. Used AD for time studies, down time, etc. There is not much that can not be done with a AD plc. Just let you mind go wild. Have fun and do not be a lazy programmer.

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adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect)
Edited September 16, 2020 at 11:14 PM
Created Date: April 15,2008
Created by: a agnone
What is the best? I think ladder, stage in peticular is great. I hear and seen a lot of the IEC-61331. The advantage of this code is the ability to program a routine and use it in another program without writing the code again. Some may think this is a cure all for programming errors or make programming easier. It does not matter what you use to program, the end result is to have a working machine. None of the forms of programming substitute the need for structure. You still need good program structure or programming house keeping to program a good solid program. Sure some types of programming are more suited to do more complex operations. But one still needs proper structure or flow to make a good working program. Then there is the cost of some of the computers/plc's that run this new type of code. The cost of AD and using Stage is amazing. We have done things with AD's PLC's that the units costing thousands of dollars do. Plus the setup and learning curve was way shorter than the expensive units. That is not counting the cost to send a couple of our guys to school and phone calls to get the expensive stuff working. So far to date, we have used AD's HMI's, with sound. So far everyone loves the female voice I used. It is so confusing to hear all the beeping. Now they know what machine is having problems. I even gave it a personality to say good morning. We are now mixing robotics with AD. Used AD for time studies, down time, etc. There is not much that can not be done with a AD plc. Just let you mind go wild. Have fun and do not be a lazy programmer.
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adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect)
Edited September 16, 2020 at 11:15 PM
Created Date: April 14,2008
Created by: franji1
I think we can all agree that more choices is always better. IEC-61131-3 specifies 5 different PLC programming languages, but are they the best? Are all 5 needed?
I could see something like SFC , Ladder , and a BASIC/Structured Text type language being the most needed??? (this is my opinion, but I care about what YOU think!)
We started a poll on the Host Engineering forum to try to get a good idea...
http://forum.hosteng.com/index.php/topic,154.0.html
Feel free to comment there or here, but it is an election year, so please vote for your favorite(s) there. http://forum1.automationdirect.com/board/wink.gif
Thanks! http://forum1.automationdirect.com/board/biggrin.gif
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