Engineering college study revisited - the simulation of PID Controller

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title: Engineering college study revisited - the simulation of PID Controller date: '2000-01-01' tags:

• Uncategorized

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Back to the Roots — A Tour Through PID Control...

Years after graduating, I found myself staring at lines of C++ code and a bouncing green square on my laptop screen. It felt oddly familiar — like flipping through an old notebook filled with scribbles from those rushed, caffeine-fueled college nights.

Back then, PID control was just another formula — Kp, Ki, Kd — abstract terms scribbled across whiteboards, mixed with equations I barely grasped. We memorized it for exams, solved a few paper problems, and moved on, never fully realizing its power.

But today, that same concept came alive on my screen.

A simple OpenGL simulation — an object floating, falling, recovering — all orchestrated by the same PID logic. And with every tweak of Kp, Ki, and Kd, I could see physics, control theory, and mathematics working in perfect harmony. No longer abstract — this was control in action: balance, stability, correction — everything life taught me after college, now visualized through code.

In that moment, I wasn’t just coding. I was walking the halls of my old college — but this time, with experience as my guide. PID control wasn’t just theory; it was a reminder that the lessons we rushed through back then? They’re the foundation of what we build today.

It turns out, sometimes the most inspiring discoveries happen when you revisit the past — armed with curiosity, patience, and maybe, just a little more coffee.

Here's me...

joining the dots backward...

The below screen recording was an implementation of PID control in Java done many years after graduation.