Years ago, I used to watch a TV horror show called Tales from the Crypt. And, like most of the shows in this genre, Tales would tell a gory story that started one way and ended with an unexpected twist. Dad comes home and gives his daughter, Suzy, a new doll as a gift. Later mom and dad get into a fight. Mom is found brutally knifed to death. Dad's in prison being walked to the electric chair. In the final creepy scene at home, the doll tells the daughter, "See, I told you I'd teach him a lesson for not giving you those cookies. I love you, Suzy."
Recently, when Synopsys announced their new IP delivery tools, CoreBuilder and CoreConsultant, we got to see some very unexpected twists. The first twist was that a user leaked a technically detailed review of the tools in ESNUG post 314 before they were officially announced. (Synopsys got scooped!) The second twist was even though the initial reviewer pretty much liked those new IP delivery tools, two other users who hadn't used the tools wrote how they hated them.
"Design Reuse is myth," wrote Cliff Cummings of Sunburst Design. "It's this year's EDA hobby. They're trendy industry buzzwords that'll be long forgotten 2 to 3 years from now. Engineers do not want to reuse somebody else's design. Engineers want to 'create' and they do not want to modify another engineer's code to do it.
"Why is the EDA industry focusing so much effort on the easy part of the job (reuse) and not on TESTING?" Cliff added. "New, fluffy, IP-oriented EDA tools like Synopsys CoreBuilder and CoreConsultant are a waste of everyone's time. What we engineers really want is EDA tools that make testing more and more effortless."
(Ouch! Don't hold back, Cliff. Tell us what you really think.)
Dave Brier, who works in IP development at Texas Instruments, wrote: "I'm not too happy about the new Synopsys IP delivery tools. They are tied to proprietary formats once again. Yuck."
Rather than just kvetch, Dave's group at TI brainstormed to find a better way. "Our idea is to use a true encryption engine, with no proprietary anything, to create secure source files for the exchange if IP via PGP," Dave wrote. "PGP is readily available around the world and easily used. We are proposing that all EDA tools be able to call the PGP algorithm when they read a file if required."
Dave then outlined the technical details to make this work in Esnug post 315. Great idea. Totally unexpected. I hope the idea of PGP IP encryption catches on with the EDA vendors. If not, they may have to watch out for those creepy knife-wielding dolls. Or the wrath of Cliff (grin).
-John Cooley runs the E-Mail Synopsys Users Group (ESNUG), is a contract asic designer and loves hearing from engineers at jcooley@world.std.com or (508) 429-4357.
