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Subject:RE: Do I REALLY have to understand the material? From:"Miller, Alan" <Alan -dot- Miller -at- prometric -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 20 Aug 2002 09:25:35 -0400
Andrew wrote, in part:
<snip>
>>> 6. If I document, for example, manufacturing programs, its more important for me to understand the manufacturing process than the language that the programs use.
Yes. But learning the programming languages surely won't hurt your ability to understand and document manufacturing processes.
<snip>
Actually, Andrew, learning the programming language in this instance is essential. The details of how the process works are buried in the coding in the process controllers (Programmable Logic Controllers). The PLCs for a conveyor, for example, will control how the conveyor starts and stops under normal conditions, what the safety interlocks are, what the parameters and set points that control the conveyor speed and loading are, what will cause an emergency shutdown, and what conditions will cause warning alarms. These and other settings are not made at the factory and are not in the vendor's manual. A controls engineer at the site programs the PLCs and tests the system, he will document the code he used. If the writer can't read the programming code, he'll never figure out how the durn thing works.
Al Miller
Chief Documentation Curmudgeon
Prometric, Inc., a part of the Thomson Corporation
Baltimore, Maryland
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