Pete Keillor fired this volley in
:

Ladder is my
least favorite, but might be the best choice for your case.

I was a machine language programmer when I was first thrust into the
ladder logic world, and it was a rough transition.

My path was eased when the team decided on a PLC with an event-triggered
BASIC language extension capability. I don't have experience with many
different PLCs, but from what I've seen, most of them offer some such
ability.

It allows you to place the most fundamental cyclic state checks in
ladder, and do the nitzy (and perhaps arithmetic-based) control in the
'higher' language.

In the case of the BASIC I was given, it was severely crippled, and
required that I write my own floating-point math package to support the
precision of work we were doing.

The learning curve was pretty steep, but short.

LLoyd