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There's potentially a steep learning for Chisel especially if you're not coming from a Computer Science or programming language theory background. It feels lik
by chrsw 3y ago
There's potentially a steep learning for Chisel especially if you're not coming from a Computer Science or programming language theory background.
It feels like Chisel is the result of functional programmers looking at the state of hardware design languages and being aghast at how archaic it is. Which is probably true but the value here will be helping experienced designers with no interest in learning CS theory build better chips faster. If Chisel can do that then it will win.
In my opinion the best languages have an extremely low barrier to entry. For example, C is very simple. The JavaScript development environment and tons of examples are readily available to everyone with a web browser. Python is cross-platform, has libraries for almost anything and relatively painless interoperability.
- xw3089 3y agoI think this comes from the idea that running the EDA flow is like compiling software and that’s the problem, it’s not. The EDA flow, the software that goes from verilog to manufacturable files, is electrical engineering. Sure, it’s heavily automated, but it’s not fully automated. And if you want a semi decent chip, the tools need a ton of hand holding. And if you want a great chip, get prepared to dig into all the intermediate files… If you just want a chip, any chip, they can kinda give you that in a fully automated way.