The development of the software for the controller of an automatic machine workshop by object-oriented programming

The material presented is to introduce how an advanced object-oriented programming (OOP) technique can be applied to an automatic machine workshop. It is a user-friendly and well-manipulated software which uses a semantic net of information representation by applying a hierarchy of various object components and/or structures. It has already been proven to be a very useful software concept in handling a flexible, automatic manufacturing system. In order to discuss further the application of the OOP concept in detail, an automatic machine workshop is used as an example to illustrate the applications. It is found that this kind of object-based approach offers a swift tool to integrate objects into a manufacturing environment to make the control of an automatic machine workshop possible. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.