1. A method for modeling an industrial control device comprising: (a) executing on a host system a program environment stored in a non-transient computer readable medium, the program environment being operable to execute an emulation module defining a model for a logical behavior of an industrial control device, wherein the emulation module permits execution of a second program being an industrial control program; (b) executing a portion of the industrial control program via the emulation module, the portion having multiple program elements including at least one instruction controlling an operation of the industrial control device being modeled; (c) counting a number of periodic ticks synchronous with a clock in the host system while executing the portion of the industrial control program using the emulation module to determine a host system time for execution of the portion of the industrial control program on the host system using the emulation module; and (d) comparing the host system time to a predetermined execution time stored in a data structure of the host system, wherein the predetermined execution time indicates a time period for executing the portion of the industrial control program on the industrial control device being modeled.