Re: gEDA-user: C++ HDL

[John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxx>]

On May 11, 2009, at 3:04 PM, Joerg wrote:

> al davis wrote:
>> On Monday 11 May 2009, Joerg wrote:
>>> I just hope universities don't rely on that route alone when
>>> teaching RF design.
>>
>> Why not?  It's no worse than some of the other choices they
>> make, including some that you vigorously defend.
>>
>
> Like what?
>
>
>> Considering how much proprietary stuff they rely on, and by
>> doing so they reject real opportunities for learning, System-C
>> as a sole way to teach a particular part of the curriculum seems
>> rather benign.
>>
>
> It's ok as long as they don't neglect real HW design and testing, with
> solder irons and all. I have found younger candidates to be seriously
> lacking in that respect.

I agree, but I find it even more shocking that a 21st century  
engineer would not know programming. Programming skills are as  
important as literacy to a scientist, mathematician, or engineer  
these days. They cannot be left to specialized programmers any more  
than writing can be left to specialized scribes.

> There comes a time when us older guys can't
> help them anymore. The topper was a professor at my university who  
> said
> that soon everything will be ICs, that transistors and most of that
> discrete stuff would go away. I burst into laughter in the  
> auditorium, a
> bit embarrassing ...

Well, in case you haven't noticed, it's headed that way. My CCD  
measurement chains of 10-20 years ago were full of discrete  
transistors. IC's were not up to the job at the power levels required  
for a space instrument. Present day versions have no discretes, but  
use less power, and are faster and quieter. It's physics: the scaling  
laws tell you that in most cases, smaller transistors with shorter  
interconnections are better. You can only go so far down this road  
with discretes. Still need a big power transistor? Those are mostly  
IC's, too: millions of tiny transistors in parallel.

What hasn't changed is the need to understand the physics of  
individual transistors: if anything in mixed signal VLSI that's  
*more* important than it was in the days of discretes.

John Doty              Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
jpd@xxxxxxxxx




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