Correct by Construction and Other Myths

Joseph Davis, Mentor Graphics
EETimes (10/28/2015 03:18 AM EDT)

"Usability" shows up on a benchmark list, "Integration" doesn't. Maybe it should.

At a certain level, we can view modern chip design methodology as based on the successive-approximation method—abstract the pieces with models, put the models together to get approximately what you want, push the design down to the next level of abstraction to see if it still works with a little more detail, then repeat until you have sufficient confidence that you can take the result to silicon. There are many, many layers of these models and abstractions, from simple transistor behavior all the way up to functional models of entire blocks. Many of these models and abstractions, and the software that embodies them, come from years of hard work by many people around the world. The objective of all that work was to find the perfect model that is accurate enough and fast enough to provide satisfactory results in a reasonable amount of time. This is all good engineering, and even some good science, too.

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