1. DARPA Bookshelf For VLSI CAD Algorithms: Progress and Future Directions Andrew E. Caldwell, Andrew B. Kahng and Igor L. Markov

2. 2 11/3/99 Outline u Progress s New slots and links s New content in existing slots: formats, binaries and executables s UCLA PD tools release s Update on copyright and support s Update on OS/compiler platforms u Future directions s Assembling new tool flows s Comparisons and evaluation of leading-edge implementations t “distributable” binaries evaluated on proprietary benchmarks; results published s Possible direction: software outsourcing

3. 3 11/3/99 New Slots and Links u Link: Mathematical programming (Arizona State) s Linear, general non-linear, quadratic, semi-definite, MIP, multi-obj. s Very comprehensive coverage, links, source codes, comparisons u Link: Decision Diagrams, CUDD (U. Colorado, Boulder) s Leading-edge BDD implementations (source codes) u New Slot: Bounded-Skew Clock Routing (UCLA/Ultima) s Data formats, benchmarks, reference results, source code, exe’s

4. 4 11/3/99 New Content in Existing Slots u Global Routing Formats Finalized s Appeal: research in global routing only becomes possible u New source codes s VLSI back-end OO database: UCLA s Graph coloring: UCLA s Hypergraph Partitioning: MLPart (UCLA) s Standard-Cell Placement: Capo (UCLA) u New executables s Placement implementations: Dragon (NWU), Feng Shui (SUNY) s Global router: Feng Shui (SUNY)

5. 5 11/3/99 UCLA PD Tools Release u 100K lines in C++ under the MIT copyright u 35 packages that connect using shared libraries, 4Mb total s Capo placer, MLPart partitioner, UCLA DB, parsers, support libs u Installation script for Unix systems (Solaris, Linux etc) u Most of tech. comments from GSRC are taken care of u No package version management (but the distribution itself is versioned) u Problem: MSVC++ configuration (more work needed)

6. 6 11/3/99 Update on Copyright u The MIT (X consortium) copyright adopted for bookshelf s Chosen from “approved” open-source licenses at opensource.org s Attorneys: the MIT text marginally better than Ptolemy copyrht s OK from GSRC u Upshot s All code is open-source s All code is free (as in “free lunch”) and free (as in “free speech”) s No “intended use” notification s The main requirement: enclose the copyright notice w all copies s No restrictions on copyright holders

7. 7 11/3/99 Update on Documentation and Support u “Documentation and Support Advisory” u Developers and maintainers attempt to s describe general purpose of released software s provide installation instructions s provide relevent references u Comprehensive documentation may be hard to create u Instead, try to leverage user community s Provide limited and selective email support s Maintain FAQs, user mailing lists

8. 8 11/3/99 Update on OS/Complier Platforms u Compilers w/o internal STL not supported u g++ 2.95.2 on all platforms (earlier versions not supported) s no changes (thumb up) s limitation: must use GNU ld (linker) u MSVC++ 5.0/6.0: no changes u SunPro CC (thumb down) s Workshop 5.0 and earlier not supported s Workshop 6.0 (May 15, 2000) renamed into Sun Forte s Forte C++ may be usable

9. 9 11/3/99 Comparisons and Evaluation of Implementations u Traditional assumptions s Public benchmarks s Proprietary code (gives “competitive edge” etc) u In reality: the other way around s Proprietary benchmarks (IP, “trade secrets” etc) t Reverse-engineering practical (John Hayes et al., 1999) s Binaries of complex implementations can be distributed t Reverse-engineering impractical because results will not be reusable u New perspective s “Mobile” implementations applied to confidential benchmarks s Results of evaluations and comparisons made public

10. 10 11/3/99 Future Directions: New Tool Flows u Recent splash of interest to placement among researchers s At least 6-7 academic groups have working placers s At least 3 placers support bookshelf file format u Always need to evaluate results with a router u UCLA/ABKgroup assembled such a flow for plug-in placer u Using bookshelf formats (and converters to/from LEF/DEF) s can now test other academic placers with commercial routers s can mix and match constructive and iteratively improving placers s can mix and match global and detailed placers

11. 11 11/3/99 Possible Direction: Code Outsourcing u Our research is on EDA u Rigorous communication, verification of results s uses [formal] programming languages and software u Yet we think in higher-level terms, often not specific to EDA s Translation from higher-level terms into software is laborious u Outsourcing (parts of) software engineering s Subcontracting to professional programmers (no EDA experience) s At this point, we want to outsource the work, not the expertise s Attempt to stay at a higher level, but not lose grasp of reality

12. 12 11/3/99 Conclusions u The bookshelf is accepting contributions u The bookshelf gets a lot of hits u The bookshelf helps doing research s Has clear problems formulations s Offers a catalogue of available implementations s Facilitates comparisons and evaluations that may be hard OW u The bookshelf reduces waste by improving reuse u The bookshelf helps the EDA industry s Points out academic research “that actually works” s Gives access to more open-source codes