Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By : Mason White
Book Image

Mastering PLC Programming

By: Mason White

Overview of this book

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a new feature of PLC programming that has taken the automation world by storm. This book provides you with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern automation programming environment. The book is designed in a way to take you through advanced topics such as OOP design, SOLID programming, the software development lifecycle (SDLC), library design, HMI development, general software engineering practices, and more. To hone your programming skills, each chapter has a simulated real-world project that’ll enable you to apply the skills you’ve learned. In all, this book not only covers complex PLC programming topics, but it also removes the financial barrier that comes with most books as all examples utilize free software. This means that to follow along, you DO NOT need to purchase any PLC hardware or software. By the end of this PLC book, you will have what it takes to create long-lasting codebases for any modern automation project.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
1
Part 1 – An Introduction to Advanced PLC Programming
6
Part 2 – Modularity and Objects
10
Part 3 – Software Engineering for PLCs
14
Part 4 – HMIs and Alarms
19
Part 5 – Final Project and Thoughts

Summary

It is pivotal to understand the SDLC for anyone who wishes to write code. The SDLC should be thought of as a guide to properly develop software. No matter what you’re doing, you should always follow the SDLC as closely as you can so that your software will be easy to build, fix, and expand upon in the future.

This chapter has been a crash course in the SDLC, the methodologies that govern it, and the steps that it encompasses. Of all the chapters, I would argue that this is the most important. Too often, developers get caught up in what I like to call the code culture of just blindly building things with no roadmap of where they are, where they’ve been, or where they’re going. Being able to navigate the SDLC will set you apart from those developers as in-depth knowledge of the SDLC is what separates an engineer from a programmer. With these principles under your belt, you can build software that will be extraordinary.

At this point, you should have...