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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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Getting to know methods

The term method has been thrown around a few times thus far in the book. A method is a special type of function that belongs to a function block. Methods are members of function blocks that consist of blocks of code that are executed when called. Without methods, a function block is mostly useless. To conceptualize a method, consider the blueprint example before. If the function block is a car, then the methods are the brakes and engine of said car.

Unlike the functions we explored in Chapter 5, methods are not global. This means that they cannot be called from anywhere like the functions we previously explored. Essentially, the only place that can call these functions is a file with an object to the function block or from somewhere inside the function block, such as another method.

To create a method, you must first have a function block. Since we already have a Calculator function block, we are going to add four methods to it that will handle addition...

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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