Programming Language

[bpiermat]

Curt,

I have been holding off on buying the AC3 due to the fact that the programming language seems quite archaic. But maybe you can help me understand why AC3 is programmed in this manner.

Would it not be similar if the controller could understand if then else statements...and other standard programming functions.

For example if I want to do a water change every Sunday at 1 PM

Func Sun_water_change
if day = Sunday and time < 13:00 and time >13:05
call Func Turn_all_pumps *Calls the another fuction
LT1 on
LT2 on
LT3 on
end if
end Func

[MJSavage]

Archaic?

I find it quite intuitive and easy to use but then I'm not a programmer.

[dougchambers]

I'm sure Curt can give you a much better explanation, but I would compare it to a PLC routine versus a compiled language like VB, C++ or C# as you described. The inputs are scanned, the code is run from top to bottom, and the output table is built accordingly. There must be some sub-level ability where it knows how to do routines like OSC and the temperature offsets. Not sure how it really runs, but it seems reasonable.

As far as the actual programming, it's quite simple and more powerful than a lot of people give it credit. If you start playing with the timers and building sub-timers (dummy) to do the advanced features, you can do some really cool things.

Check out some of the "Competition" and I think you will see that the Neptune products are quite capable.

[laverda]

Doug How about showing us some examples of what your talking about, please.

[clp]

The programming language is a balance between ease of use, and having enough flexibility to control equipment in the desired manor. There is rarely any practical control tasks that cannot be accomplished by the existing language. Why make the language more complex then it needs to be? Take a look at some of the other threads posted in this forum which contain programs, some of which contain complex control examples.

Curt