Hi! and welcome at PLCCoder.com. My name is Gerhard Barteling. I’m a mechatronic engineer working for a medical device manufacturer in the Netherlands. Here I develop machine control systems and work with PLC’s, six axis robots, servo systems and SCADA systems.
I’ve always been exited about combining software, electronics and mechanics. When I was 15 years old I attempted to automate my mother’s greenhouse vents based on temperature with a PIC microcontroller, a NTC resistance and a wiper motor. This was where my programming career started. I wrote a lot of (spaghetti) code, and I quickly considered myself a programming guru. Of course I was completely wrong here, but through the years I gained some real experience, working with the .NET framework, SQL databases and the IEC 61131-1 languages (mostly structured text). I learned about design patterns, test driven development, SOLID code and I worked myself through the excellent books of Robert C. Martin. Above all, the most imported thing I learned is that there is always more to learn, especially with software development where there are many roads to the same goal, although some roads are in fact a detour..
Why PLCCoder.com
In my ever during search for information I discovered that there’s a lot of information on the internet about languages as C#.NET, SQL and all other desktop, server and mobile solutions. Unfortunately, there’s way less information about PLC programming in for example IEC 61131-1 structured text. My guess is that this is partly because of the needed hardware and licenses. However, with the soft PLC’s from Beckhoff for example anyone with a laptop can start developing. Expand this with an Ethercat bus coupler and some IO and the fun can really start! On this blog I will write about PLC related topics I find fun or interesting. Most likely it involves the TwinCAT 3 software from Beckhoff which I used most last years, and is free for engineering. With this blog I hope to contribute a little bit to the word of PLC programming.
If you have any complains, questions, tips, compliments or other feedback feel free to contact me. By the way my automatic greenhouse solution never really passed the prototype stage.. I discovered there was a turnkey solution..
Gerhard Barteling
