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

The governing principles of SOLID programming

As we stated in the last section, there are five underlining principles that govern SOLID programming. They are as follows:

  • S: Single-responsibility principle (SRP)
  • O: Open-closed principle (OCP)
  • L: Liskov substitution principle (LSP)
  • I: Interface segregation principle (ISP)
  • D: Dependency inversion principle (DIP)

The first, and in my opinion, the easiest and most important principle to explore is the SRP.

The single-responsibility principle

The SRP is, in my opinion, the most important of the five principles to implement. In short, the SRP states that a code module should do one thing and one thing alone, kind of like the way we defined what a function should do in Chapter 5. In short, this goes back to the one-sentence rule. If you have to use the word and to describe your module, you have violated the SRP and you should break the service out. Generally, this is a trick that many experienced developers...