KMLM List

[David C Black <dcblack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Benoit Bemer wrote:
>  Hello,
>
>  What to think of SystemC future ?
>
>  It seems that future versions of SC will only be LRM
>  and up to vendors to implement. I understand the issue
>  of open source requiring contributors. But then I also
>
>  read that key vendors are disengaging ressources from
>  SC tools.
>  For instance Cadence laying-off SystemC people:
>
> http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=4688009&tid=cdn&sid=4688009&mid=12053
>
>  Does SC have a future ?
>
>    BM

I'm not sure where you are getting your information from, but as 
consultants specializing in SystemC, we've seen a large increase in 
the number of companies desiring services and support with SystemC. 
Also, there are many EDA companies supporting SystemC as evidenced on 
systemc.org.

The only EDA company we've seen backing away from SystemC is 
Synopsys. They have their own reasons mainly SystemVerilog and 
limited resources (like any company). In the short term this will 
probably be a good thing for Synopsys since it is much easier to 
convince engineers in the US that refuse to move to a truly different 
paradigm to use what amounts to an extension of Verilog.

From what we've seen, new graduates coming out of school are the best 
students of SystemC, and new design paradigms. Several universities 
are now teaching SystemC. True systems companies have started to 
realize this and are finding new graduates to be a better value. 
College kids of today think of object-oriented concepts as normal, 
and coding in C++ is a normal activity for any type of work.

Also, there are several SystemC synthesis tools in the making (some 
on the sly), and a number of other really innovative other tools. I 
am not allowed to discuss several of them due to NDA.

RTL has been around for over 20 years with no real advances. RTL is 
going the way of assembly language, and the RTL designers of today 
will become the schematic designers of tomorrow (5-10 years). Design 
sizes are growing rapidly. 100M gates on a chip is not unreal.

Suffice it to say the design landscape is changing. Europe and Asia 
have seen the light and have made the most progress in this area. 
Some jobs are moving overseas for the reason that U.S. engineers are 
not keeping up with the times.

If you're one of those RTL designers, you should be worried. Either 
move into layout design, as we've seen a number of engineers do, or 
start learning C++ and move your design skills up a notch. If you're 
one of those with C++ skills and a good grasp of both hardware and 
software, the future looks bright!

David C Black, CTO
Eklectic Ally Inc. - Your Innovative SystemC Development ally
Office: 512/288-3783x6 Cell:512/751-5655 Voicemail/FAX:888/467-4609
Web <http://www.EklecticAlly.com>

Every job is a self-portrait of those who do it.
AUTOGRAPH your work with QUALITY.