New Poll! Programming Language of Choice?

[franji1]

I think we can all agree that more choices is always better.  IEC-61131-3 specifies 5 different 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!)

Choose as many languages as you think you truly need (less is more sometimes, though, so if you think 17 languages, including COBOL, should be running in your PLC, you may want to whittle it down )

If you don't see yours listed, choose Other and please post a comment as to which one it is.  Also, feel free to comment on the pros and cons of the languages above!

[cdudley]

I put my vote in for function block diagram language.

FBD is powerful and easy to program with, it makes expressing complicated logical relationships clear and concise. It is always interesting to me how 4 or 5 pages of ladder can be compressed into 1 page of FBD, and even though the representation is so much more compact, it is often easier to read and decipher the flow of control.

It is the one real tool I miss when using DirectSoft as compared to Honeywell, A-B, Modicon etc.

Oh, and being able to program in C or C++ wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit either.

[franji1]

I put my vote in for function block diagram language.

After I ran this poll for a while, I noticed I mistakenly left out FBD (IEC-61131 Function Block Diagrams).  Please, if anyone else likes FBD, please let us know here by posting something (you can't just vote "other" - I need to know what "other" is  )

Thanks cdudley for pointing this out!!

[PLCGuy]

Function Block Programming has my vote. I think expanding the I-box would be nice. With the FBP you can copy and paste whereas with the I-Box you have to fill in the box each time.

[XAB]

I too vote for FBD.  There are some very powerful functions in FB that would take several ladder rungs to perform the same.  Plus, as mentioned, the ease of circuit comprehension at a glance.

[narsenault]

I also would like to see FDB with the I-Box as mention by PLCGuy! FDB would speed up things.

[Controls Guy]

If you're going to include Perl and Java, I nominate Python.  I'm not sure I want to program a PLC in Python, but I sure don't want to do so in Perl, and if a language from that genre were to be available, I'd like Python.  What the heck is Lua?

And, what do you consider the difference between Stage and SFC, since they're both listed?  I always considered Stage to be a somewhat non-optimal implementation of SFC.

[franji1]

And, what do you consider the difference between Stage and SFC, since they're both listed?  I always considered Stage to be a somewhat non-optimal implementation of SFC.

There are many differences between them.  Both of them are based on Grafcet, and Petri Nets, but it's like C++ vs. Java.  Sure, there are similarities, but you definitely have 2 different camps.  Stage is definitely, exclusively a Koyo/ADC language, while SFC is a "standard" that is not PLC specific.  Just want to see who likes Stage and who likes SFC.

[Controls Guy]

SFC for me, please.

[franji1]

Don't you or Bob ever sleep? 

Bob - Bella - great movie!  (I actually liked it more than Terry did!)

[BobO]

So yer sayin' yer a chick...and she's not? Hmmm...gotta think about that one.

[Controls Guy]

As long as there's one of each, it'll work out.

[BobO]

Well...I saw him at Blockbuster last night, and he was leaving with a movie that met all of the criteria for being a chick flick. I wished him well, and went home to watch Hell Boy. <insert Tim Taylor grunting here>

Since he liked it better than she did, one is left to reevaluate the starting condition. I've known Mark for like...forever...and he is a bit of a softy though.

[Controls Guy]

Oh, I should have qualified my comment.  As long as there's one of each it'll work out -- except in California   

[tdamon]

Function Block and RLL gets my vote