To any competitor prepared to submit a sample program in their language:
We will post your sample and notes in the above comparison and provide a link to your website.
Conditions:
1. Your program must do exactly the same as our program above, and may contain only the same 3 comments.
2. We must know the size of the object code, over and above any base operating environment (i.e. the size of the final code less the size of a null program).
3. We will provide a link to any page on your website providing the website in our opinion contains no disparaging comments about our product or this offer. The link will open in a new window.
4. You must provide a reciprocal link to a nominated page on our website.
5. Your controller, without added I/O modules, must be able to directly interface to industrial NPN and PNP sensors and drive loads at 24V DC or AC at at least 250mA.
6. Your product must be available as a choice of standard (off the shelf) product or custom designs. Standard product must include built in operator interface options. Customization options must be available for quantities as low as 15 pieces. You must offer fully customized designs for quantities down to 300 per year with an NRE cost of typically less that $15K for a straight forward design.
7. We will reproduce your program as gif file (for graphic languages only) or as text. If you submit a gif we will not edit it. If you submit a text source we will convert it to the same font as the other examples. You are advised to convert tabs to spaces and keep the listing width so it will fit without horizontal scrolling.
The following competitors have accepted our challenge since this was first posted May 7 2006:

The world's easiest controls programming language

We believe SPLat's programming language is the easiest in the world for embedded OEM control applications. SPLat's language was originally devised, and has evolved over time, with embedded machine control as its main driver. The example below shows off just a few of the language features that make SPLat so easy for control programming. Compared to C, Basic and other general purpose computer languages, SPLat focusses on those language elements that are important for programing controls, which is very different to general computing. SPLat lets you express the concepts of logic, sequence and time quickly and easily. Compared to ladder, SPLat lets you tell the controller what to do, rather than what to be (in ladder you emulate a circuit made up of relays, timers etc, so in reality you are designing a circuit that will solve the problem rather than simply solving the problem directly).

... You compare, you decide!

In the two side-by-side windows below you can compare the same program written in several languages that are used for programming controls. Just click on the language names to select.

What the program does Is this comparison honest? What about my favourite language?

Click a key word below to show the code
[SPLat] [SPLatOS C] [Ladder] [Statement list] [Dynamic C] [Basic]

//Dynamic C^TM Click for notes
main()
{
   char SwitchStateA;
   char SwitchStateB;
   char LastStateA;
   char LastStateB;
   char LampState;
   char Running;
   char Changed;
   char FlashCount;

   char LastStateSL;
   char SwitchStateSL;
   char LampStateSL;
   unsigned long LastPressSL;
   unsigned long DiffSL;

   char LastStateT;
   char SwitchStateT;
   char LampStateT;

   brdInit();

   LastStateA=1;
   LastStateB=1;
   Running=0;

   LastStateSL=1;
   LampStateSL=0;

   LastStateT=1;
   LampStateT=0;

   while(1)
   {
   ////////////////Sale of the Century
   costate
   {
      SwitchStateA=digIn(1);
      SwitchStateB=digIn(2);
      if( Running==0 )
      {
         Changed=0;
         if( SwitchStateA==0 && SwitchStateA!=LastStateA && SwitchStateB==1 )
         {
            Running=1;
            Changed=1;
         }

         if( SwitchStateB==0 && SwitchStateB!=LastStateB && SwitchStateA==1 )
         {
            Running=2;
            Changed=1;
         }

         if( Changed==1 )
         {
            LampState=1;
            FlashCount=0;
            digOut( Running,1 );
         }
      }
      LastStateA=SwitchStateA;
      LastStateB=SwitchStateB;
   }

   costate
   {
      waitfor(DelayMs(500));
      if( Running > 0 )
      {
         if( FlashCount++ < 4 )
         {
            LampState=LampState==0 ? 1 : 0;
            digOut(Running,LampState );
         }
         else
         {
            digOut(Running,0);
            Running=0;
         }
      }
   }

   /////////////Push ON-Push OFF button
   costate
   {
      SwitchStateT=digIn(3);
      if( SwitchStateT==0 && SwitchStateT!=LastStateT )
      {
         LampStateT=LampStateT==1 ? 0 : 1;
         digOut( 3, LampStateT );
      }
      LastStateT=SwitchStateT;
   }

   /////////// Short pulse = ON, Long pulse = OFF
   costate
   {
      SwitchStateSL=digIn(0);
      if( SwitchStateSL!=LastStateSL )
      {
         if( SwitchStateSL==0 )
            LastPressSL=MS_TIMER;
         else
         {
            DiffSL=labs( MS_TIMER-LastPressSL );
            if( DiffSL >= 1000 )
               LampStateSL=0;
            else
               LampStateSL=1;
            digOut(0,LampStateSL);
         }
      }
      LastStateSL=SwitchStateSL;
   }

}