Foreword

Summary

Too often there is thought to be a dichotomy between science and engineering: science as a quest for knowledge and understanding, and engineering as the art of constructing useful objects. This book, based on the author's experience in leading a silicon compilation project at Philips Research, is exceptional in that it very convincingly demonstrates the effectiveness of combining the scientific method with sound engineering practices.

Aimed at bridging the gap between program construction and VLSI design, the research reported in this book extends over an unusually wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from computer science and electrical engineering to logic and mathematics. In this exciting arena we encounter such topics as the power dissipation of an assignment statement, the mathematical theory of handshake circuits, the correctness proof of a compiler, and the problem of circuit initialization without reset wires, to mention just a few.

Such a multi-faceted study can be successful only if it is able to demonstrate a clear separation of concerns. In this respect, Kees van Berkel does an admirable job: his concept of handshake circuits provides an extremely elegant interface between algorithm design on the one hand and circuit implementations on the other. This separation between ‘what’ and ‘how’, which many researchers and practitioners find difficult to apply, turns out to be amazingly fruitful, as the readers of this book are encouraged to discover for themselves. In my opinion we are, with the publication of this book, witnessing a major step forward in the development of the discipline of VLSI programming.