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

OOP is the backbone of all modern programs. OOP is so ingrained into the IT world that you can’t function as a programmer without an in-depth knowledge of the concept. The days of being able to get away with simply programming machines, in a procedural sense, with ladder logic are quickly fading.

This chapter was simply a soft introduction to OOP. OOP is way more than just organizing your code into function blocks, as many concepts govern the paradigm. Now that we have a grasp of function blocks, methods, properties, and recursion, we can learn to leverage them to reduce redundant code, create cleaner code, and apply actual architecture to programs.