The Nimble Compiler research project under way at Synopsys' Advanced Technology Group (ATG) is a sign of things to come (see Aug. 28, page 1). In cooperation with two universities, Synopsys ATG is developing a C-language compiler for a particular type of programmable architecture. Called "Agileware," the architecture includes a general-purpose CPU and a dynamically reconfigurable data path coprocessor.

Nimble Compiler is a pure ANSI C compiler, but it has a twist: It can extract computationally intensive loops, turn them into dataflow graphs, and compile them into a reconfigurable data path.

The project seems especially relevant in light of recent announcements of reconfigurable architectures. It is possible that concepts underlying Nimble Compiler could be applied to architectures from Silicon Spice, Chameleon, Malleable and others. Some observers believe that fully programmable or reconfigurable architectures could form a major part of the system-on-chip market in the future.

Gary Smith, chief EDA analyst at Dataquest, thinks Nimble Compiler is part of a trend. "The embedded world is sort of asleep right now, and as it sleeps, more and more tools coming out of EDA companies are targeted more at software," he said. Smith thinks EDA vendors may be the ones who fill the "software hole" between system-level design and applications code.

Software developers already use hardware/software co-verification and emulation tools. Offerings like CoWare's N2C system, ESL's Handel-C compiler, and Cadence Design Systems' Cierto VCC products further blur the line between the hardware and software design worlds.

Last year, the embedded software tools market totaled just $670 million-about one-quarter the size of the EDA market. Since there are far more programmers than hardware designers, the disparity seems odd. But many large electronics companies that are willing to spend $100,000 for a synthesis tool will hesitate to cough up $500 for a C compiler.

It may thus happen that EDA companies, who can fund the research, will come up with both hardware and software development tools for new, complex architectures. And there may be some $100,000 C compilers in years to come, if they do the right job.