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I've had the same thing said to me by my professor about FPGAs. You can't really find much about current EE practices because companies just don't give them awa

by ktta 9y ago

I've had the same thing said to me by my professor about FPGAs. You can't really find much about current EE practices because companies just don't give them away or blog like the software guys do. Textbooks tend to be very general (also old) and don't focus on the tooling used which is the bulk of the work you have to do.

egwor 9y ago
Tooling changes (very) regularly. Learning concepts and techniques is far better for the long term since many of those techniques/concepts can be applied to new situations.
throwaway613834 9y ago
Also skeptical of this one. Tooling seems kind of beside the point? It's like arguing that your school taught you Python and that didn't prepare you for Java (or whatever).
- ktta 9y ago
  Bulk of the work is done in simulation and verification with FPGAs.
  - DigitalJack 9y ago
    This is true, but those tools doesn’t change that often at a given company. VCS and questa probably cover 99% of the fpga market.
    - ktta 9y ago
      That's exactly my point. You don't get access to those tools in school unless you are in an excellent graduate program AFAIK if that. The simulation I can do in Vivado is apparently nothing compared to the scale those tools take it to. I've talked to someone in the industry that they told me Vivado's simulation is only okay for beginner projects.
- DigitalJack 9y ago
  Tooling is most definitely not beside the point. And if your focus is backend, that is what you spend most of your time on.
  - throwaway613834 9y ago
    > Tooling is most definitely not beside the point. And if your focus is backend, that is what you spend most of your time on. The question isn't what you spend your time on though. It's what is worth spending time teaching/learning in school. You also spend all your time using a mouse and keyboard but (hopefully) you don't take courses to learn how to use the mouse and the keyboard in school. If most people could pick it up in a short period of time on the job then it doesn't seem a worthwhile use of time to teach in a course.

by ktta 9y ago

egwor 9y ago

Tooling changes (very) regularly. Learning concepts and techniques is far better for the long term since many of those techniques/concepts can be applied to new situations.

throwaway613834 9y ago

Also skeptical of this one. Tooling seems kind of beside the point? It's like arguing that your school taught you Python and that didn't prepare you for Java (or whatever).

ktta 9y ago
Bulk of the work is done in simulation and verification with FPGAs.
- DigitalJack 9y ago
  This is true, but those tools doesn’t change that often at a given company. VCS and questa probably cover 99% of the fpga market.
  - ktta 9y ago
    That's exactly my point. You don't get access to those tools in school unless you are in an excellent graduate program AFAIK if that. The simulation I can do in Vivado is apparently nothing compared to the scale those tools take it to. I've talked to someone in the industry that they told me Vivado's simulation is only okay for beginner projects.
DigitalJack 9y ago
Tooling is most definitely not beside the point. And if your focus is backend, that is what you spend most of your time on.
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  > Tooling is most definitely not beside the point. And if your focus is backend, that is what you spend most of your time on. The question isn't what you spend your time on though. It's what is worth spending time teaching/learning in school. You also spend all your time using a mouse and keyboard but (hopefully) you don't take courses to learn how to use the mouse and the keyboard in school. If most people could pick it up in a short period of time on the job then it doesn't seem a worthwhile use of time to teach in a course.