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You're reading from  Mastering PLC Programming

Product typeBook
Published inMar 2023
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781804612880
Edition1st Edition
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Author (1)
Mason White
Mason White
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Mason White

M.T. White has been programming since the age of 12. His fascination with robotics flourished when he was a child programming microcontrollers such as Arduinos. M.T. currently holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a master's degree in soft ware engineering, and is currently working on an MBA in IT project management. M.T. is currently working as a soft ware developer for a major US defense contractor and is an adjunct CIS instructor at ECPI University. His background mostly stems from the automation industry where he programmed PLCs and HMIs for many different types of applications. M.T. has programmed many different brands of PLCs over the years and has developed HMIs using many different tools.
Read more about Mason White

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Understanding recursion and the THIS keyword

Recursion is a looping concept that isn’t used much in today’s world. However, it is a concept that often pops up in interviews and is something that all software engineers need to understand. In a nutshell, recursion is where a method calls itself. Recursion is a valid concept and is an important concept to know; however, for many applications, some type of loop will be more appropriate.

If you do opt to use recursion, exercise great caution. Recursion is generally considered resource-heavy, and in the automation world, where many PLCs have traditionally limited computing resources compared to full-fledged computers, it can consume precious resources.

Recursion is also somewhat dangerous as it is easy to create what is known as an infinite recursive loop. These loops are recursive loops that continuously call themselves. Many modern compilers do check for this and will usually throw a compile error before the code is...

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Mastering PLC Programming
Published in: Mar 2023Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781804612880

Author (1)

author image
Mason White

M.T. White has been programming since the age of 12. His fascination with robotics flourished when he was a child programming microcontrollers such as Arduinos. M.T. currently holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a master's degree in soft ware engineering, and is currently working on an MBA in IT project management. M.T. is currently working as a soft ware developer for a major US defense contractor and is an adjunct CIS instructor at ECPI University. His background mostly stems from the automation industry where he programmed PLCs and HMIs for many different types of applications. M.T. has programmed many different brands of PLCs over the years and has developed HMIs using many different tools.
Read more about Mason White