FROM
THE EDITOR
This week, our newest feature looks at the latest release from The MathWorks - a new product called
Simulink HDL Coder. On the surface, HDL Coder is a potential breakthrough product - bridging the gap between the system
design world of MATLAB and Simulink, and the deep-tech implementation world of HDL hardware design. Below the surface,
however, is an incursion of sorts. With this announcement, The MathWorks puts an undisputed foot (not just a toe or pinky) in
the EDA sandbox. The results will be interesting to watch.
Thanks for reading! If there's anything we can do to make our publications more useful to you, please let us know at: comments@embeddedtechjournal.com
Kevin
Morris – Editor
Embedded Technology Journal
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Connecting the Camps
Mathworks Bridges System and Hardware Design
It happens from time to time. Some well-meaning high-tech company notices that they've got some pretty cool design tool technology and
says to themselves, "Hey, we've got some cool design tool technology. Let's jump into the EDA market!" These are fateful
thoughts, however - best pushed aside. In practical terms, they are akin to "Hey, I've got myself a pretty cool racing bike –
I think I'll compete in the Tour de France!" Sometimes, though, a company that, perhaps, developed some nice tools for their own
internal use, feels just too tempted and takes that ill-advised plunge. The results are typically disastrous. These adventurers usually
soon discover that creating tool technology is the easy part. Getting electronic designers to adopt and depend on your software,
regardless of how novel and necessary it may seem, is a much more daunting challenge.
The MathWorks is bucking that trend, however, because they've approached the problem from a different direction. First, they won the
hearts and minds of the electronic design community with their general purpose (non-EDA-specific) tools like MATLAB and Simulink. Then,
when they apparently noticed that they had thousands of seats of software in places where only EDA companies typically played, they set
about developing domain-specific technology to try and capitalize on that market presence. [more]
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