Design synthesis in VLSI and software engineering

In this paper we present the results of the Working Group on Design Synthesis and Measurement. This group explored the issues that separate and bind software engineering and VLSI design. The issues on which we comment are design views and tradeoff, levels of abstraction and their importance, and design methodologies and their effect on decisions. We also examine the support environments needed to facilitate design in VLSI and software engineering, state-of-the-art of silicon compilation today, and the types of problems that are best suited to silicon compilation.