Program emulation in a personal computer: is it really worth it?

The author discusses the development of PLC emulation and process modeling software within the computer which allows the designer to check out the newly written control program by toggling bits and manipulating words or by allowing a process model to control certain bits to interface to the control program. SOFTWIRES, which allows for process modeling and PLC emulation, is discussed. SOFTWIRES allows the programmer to write a control program and test it as it is written. For more extensive testing a process model could be written to interface to the control program to create an environment of program debugging at the programmer´s site, not at the start-up site. This could create near-perfect software to reduce start-up problems related to software and the associated delays due to bugs. The author considers whether the costs in time and effort can be justified, how much time this approach can save in the software generation process and in the start-up phase, and what it is worth to be able to create hypothetical situations as the program is written rather than later on