{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Factory Field Notes","title":"Ep. 17 | Structured Text vs Ladder Logic: Why \"The Right Tool for the Job\" Is Lazy Advice [Full Q&A]","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2962,"description":"Structured text vs ladder logic is the oldest argument in PLC programming, and this week a CODESYS convert changed sides and said so publicly. I agree with where he landed and not with how he got there.\nSubscribe for weekly industrial automation and manufacturing discussions.\nLearn more at Joltek:\n- IP Addresses in Industrial Automation and OT Networks: https://www.joltek.com/blog/ip-addresses-industrial-automation-ot-networks\n- Root Causes of Downtime in Industrial Automation: https://www.joltek.com/blog/root-causes-downtime-industrial-automation\n- Rockwell PLC Lifecycle and Migration Guide: https://www.joltek.com/blog/rockwell-plc-lifecycle-migration-guide\n- Workforce Development and Education: https://www.joltek.com/services/service-details-workforce-development-education\nThe phrase I want to retire is \"use the right tool for the job.\" It sounds like judgement and it is an evasion, because most IEC 61131-3 languages can accomplish ninety percent of what a control system needs. The same interlock builds in ladder, in structured text, or in a function block diagram, and all three run. That is exactly why the phrase settles nothing.\nLadder still dominates discrete control for a historical reason that has not gone away. It mirrors the electrical schematics machines were already built from, and many of those schematics have not changed. A technician tracing a fault at two in the morning holds the print in one hand and the rung on screen in the other. That correspondence is worth more than elegance. Where continuous process is involved, function block diagrams win for the same reason: a P&ID reads as flow and so does a function block diagram.\nStructured text earns its place in data handling, recipe management, and anything algorithmic. It also dominates on CODESYS, and this is the part most people miss. It is not objectively better there. The documentation, the community answers and the examples all lean that way, so you get unstuck faster. Platform documentation...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/bLSthDC6mLkQ3vEghIEbytYZBvBBofsfsFEpsA-BvSs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ZDg0/MTRlOGJkNzQxN2Ex/M2NlNjg4N2EwMzI1/MmM4NS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}