StateWORKS Newsletter 4/07

Topics:

  1. Welcome
  2. Technical note "Integrating external finite state machines into a StateWORKS system"
  3. About the book (a review in Dr. Dobb's Journal)

1. Welcome

For many people summer time is a time for leisure. So, I do not want to stress you with complex topics. Anyway, I would like to inform you about a useful extension to the StateWORKS Studio that allows integration of external state machines into a StateWORKS system. This extension will be available in the next version of Studio, planned for later this year.

You may also be interested in a recent review of our book.

I wish you all a good vacation and we will be back soon with some major extensions to StateWORKS.

Regards
F. Wagner

2. Technical note "Integrating external finite state machine into a StateWORKS system"

StateWORKS operates in environments where part of the application control is realized in external devices. For instance, many modern actuators contain some control functionality; a LON-node performs simple control tasks, etc. One could also apply StateWORKS to control one or more P.L.C. units in a project too complex to handle only with P.L.Cs . Integration of such external control-system elements into the StateWORKS specification and RTDB Library based implementation increases the reliability, maintainability and understandability of such applications.

The technical note "Integrating external finite state machines into a StateWORKS system" discusses this topic and the extension to StateWORKS Studio which allows a specification and handling of external state machines as if they were running in the RTDB.

3. About the book (a review in Dr. Dobb's Journal)

It is a pleasure for us to read positive reviews of our book. I would like to draw your attention to the review, written by Ed Nisley, (www.ddj.com /embedded/199902736?pgno=3) that has appeared in Dr. Dobbs Journal (July, 2007). Not only because of the conclusion which reads: This one is worth reading even if you think your current methods are working fine, because it'll shake your confidence. Ed has clearly grasped and very ably described some vital advantages of StateWORKS.