Version 7 of EDA

Updated 2006-05-24 17:19:47 by lexfiend

Electronic(s) design automation (EDA) is a field where Tcl has traditionally had a strong presence. John Ousterhout originally created Tcl in the late '80s as an extension language for EDA applications which were his professional focus. Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor and Magma are large EDA (primarily ASIC) companies whose products range from: synthesis, static timing verification, functional simulation, floorplanning, place & route, SI analysis, power analysis -- almost all of which offer a Tcl API. It is near impossible to avoid Tcl in the world of digital design.

Jonathon Bromley recommends "Tcl for EDA" [L1 ] and his employer's technical Web site [L2 ] as informative.

lexfiend - The Tcl for EDA site looks like it's moved here: [L3 ]

Tcl's strength in testing is an advantage for its use in EDA.


APB adds that Tcl's BSD license is the primary reason for its adoption in the EDA world. Most hardware engineers still use Perl (or worse) for their glue outside of the Tcl interfaced EDA tools and Perl would probably have won their (and their vendors') hearts and minds if not for the license.


"EDA" is also the name of an EDA-pertinent ICONS collection. See the ICONS page for references.


Category Acronym