Method of programming and executing object-oriented state machine logic in a controller

A method of programming a controller for execution of a state machine logic program, the method comprising:

• entering data for a state machine logic program based upon a state diagram into a programming terminal, the diagram representing a plurality of current output states, a present state of a plurality of inputs, and at least one next output state, said programming terminal displaying said data on a screen for observation by a human operator;
• translating the data into at least one data structure for execution as part of a state machine logic program in the controller, the data structure including at least one state table;
• transferring the data structure from the programming terminal to the controller, the data structure including at least one of a state mask table and an event guard mask table;
• loading the data structure into an object in an object-oriented program in the controller;
• and
• executing an object-oriented execution routine in the controller, the controller operating on the data to execute the state machine logic program.