Search icon CANCEL
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Arrow up icon
GO TO TOP
PLCs for Beginners

You're reading from   PLCs for Beginners An introductory guide to building robust PLC programs with structured text

Arrow left icon
Product type Paperback
Published in May 2024
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781803230931
Length 380 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Tools
Arrow right icon
Author (1):
Arrow left icon
M. T. White M. T. White
Author Profile Icon M. T. White
M. T. White
Arrow right icon
View More author details
Toc

Table of Contents (25) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Part 1: Basics of Computer Science for PLC Programmers FREE CHAPTER
2. Chapter 1: Computer Science Versus Automation Programming 3. Chapter 2: PLC Components – Integrating PLCs with Other Modules 4. Chapter 3: The Basics of Programming 5. Chapter 4: Unleashing Computer Memory 6. Chapter 5: Designing Programs – Unleashing Pseudocode and Flowcharts 7. Chapter 6: Boolean Algebra 8. Part 2: Introduction to Structured Text Programming
9. Chapter 7: Unlocking the Power of ST 10. Chapter 8: Exploring Variables and Tags 11. Chapter 9: Performing Calculations in Structured Text 12. Chapter 10: Unleashing Built-In Function Blocks 13. Chapter 11: Unlocking the Power of Flow Control 14. Chapter 12: Unlocking Advanced Control Statements 15. Chapter 13: Implementing Tight Loops 16. Part 3: Algorithms, AI, Security, and More
17. Chapter 14: Sorting with Loops 18. Chapter 15: Secure PLC Programming – Stopping Cyberthreats 19. Chapter 16: Troubleshooting PLCs – Fixing Issues 20. Chapter 17: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) 21. Chapter 18: The Final Project – Programming a Simulated Robot 22. Assessments 23. Index 24. Other Books You May Enjoy

Program flow

The flow of a program can often be confusing to an inexperienced programmer regardless of whether they are a traditional programmer or an automation programmer. However, the overall flow of a program is very simple. In the most basic sense, a program will flow from top to bottom. A program will start at the very first command and will end at the last command. However, a program can have multiple paths to that last command.

Though a program will flow from top to bottom, the path it takes to the bottom may vary. A program can branch out into different paths, code blocks can be looped over, and functions that live in other files can be called. It is also important to understand that the last command that is executed is not necessarily the last command in the file or group of files. We’re going to explore some of these concepts in more detail later on in the book; however, for now, just assume that a program will start at the first command and end at the last command...

lock icon The rest of the chapter is locked
Register for a free Packt account to unlock a world of extra content!
A free Packt account unlocks extra newsletters, articles, discounted offers, and much more. Start advancing your knowledge today.
Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days
Get unlimited access to 7000+ expert-authored eBooks and videos courses covering every tech area you can think of
Renews at €18.99/month. Cancel anytime