IBM 610 workstation computer 3380

Oh but it's so *useful*. The mindset of PLC programming is far different is many ways from a regular computer, not to mention inevitably graphic driven though you can still do Allen-Bradley stuff via text...

Since all the math is hard coded and repeated again and again, with little branching or skipping (via the usual suspects in the PLC, i.e. contacts or logic jumps), testing the boundries beforehand often gives you a good idea of what's going to happen. Granted, you're going to test a LOT more beyond that...

Well, I do comment this in the code. It's one of those things you try to avoid if you can otherwise do so, much like one shots and (S) and (R) coils.

It's most of engineering, period. I have one project where the geniuses who designed the system decided that a large (84 inch or so) diameter fan (200,000 cfm) needed an across the line starter, i.e. just wack it with full voltage and pray, because a wye-delta 'would be too unreliable' and a soft start or VFD 'would be far too unreliable'. the end result is said fan (4 of them) are all beaten to hell from testing and pretty close to scrap now, not to mention the MCCs have all think it'd go THAT high...") currents - one exploded. I asked one about this one day, he admitted they'd never done this before...

I could go on, but the basic upshot is these guys NEVER get out into the field...

This must be a water industry thing - flow meters tend to be unidirectional or can't tell you which way the water's going, too. Really fun at times. They also love setting water levels as a function of feet above sea level, so that a tank reading 35 feet is really empty, and can never agree on red-green on-off. Never a dull moment :) The flip side is finding people - most college fresh CS guys want to write the next Doom or Napster or whatever, most Civvies can't even be trusted to plug in a coffee maker, most ME and EEs want to go build 'something cool'. Try explaining to someone that part of the job involves seeing raw sewage, and even getting near it (and the inevitable 'white balloons' that float up to the surface at times...). Most can't stomach the idea of having to look into a poowell on a 90 degree day to visually check the level and see if the sensor's acting right...