Controls programming always feels 20 years out of date. 10 years ago I was excited to move projects from ladder to structured text. This year I’m excited to finally use git to manage a PLC code base.

What platform allows use of git?

My process lends itself to function block programming so generating useful diffs requires quite a lot of effort.

Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform lends itself to git pretty well, there are XML stuff on most files, but it's mostly readable as long as you use STL (Structured Text) which is their recommended language.

Siemens's TIA Portal you can export the source code to make it readable in git as long as you code in SCL (structured control language, which is really structured text), but it's not automatic and a lot of times the binary blob that is the source code and the exported readable code get out of sync cuz of lack of discipline by the programmer.

Rockwell's Studio 5000 can be readable if you use STL (structured text), may be this has changed though, I haven't used it in a long time.

Programming experiences in the industrial controls world is highly dependent on the brand/platform, the IEC 61131-3 describes the standards for industrial controls programming languages, but each brand implements them in a different way so there really is no standard. Writing structured text in one platform does not guarantee the same code will work in a different platform.

Codesys 3.5 with a license. Git functionality is built right in, it’s fantastic.

If you work at start ups that are in the a manufacturing, processing, or general heavy industry, think SpaceX, Relativity, Rivian, etc. they use structured text (STL) which is like Pascal and usually use Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform which is a modern platform relative to Siemens and Rockwell platforms, but due to their start up nature they usually have a mix of platforms.

I've been working in this field for quite awhile and the systems can be complex and challenging. The software you write controls equipment that can cause massive damage and even death. This leads to very conservative programming languages and frameworks.

The physical dynamics of the processes are the interesting parts for me. Ladder is good for representing Boolean logic but the paradigm has been stretched too far beyond its area of strength.