They weren't exotic, they just weren't part of your writing style
The reason "--" autocorrects to an em dash in practically any word processing software (not talking about browsers) is that that's the accepted way to type it on a typewriter. And you don't need to go into any system settings to enable it. It came in around when things like Smart Quotes came in.
Complexity of the fab processes is isn't what the parent was talking about. They're talking about the major changes in the relationship between fabless semiconductor companies and commercial foundries.
The complexity of actual fabrication was always, and still is, entirely within the foundry. But in the early days of that model, designs could be more easily handed off at the logical level, leaving the physical design to back end companies, which makes designs much more portable between foundries. (The publisher analogy.) What's changed is that the complexity of physical design has exploded, and you can't make the handoff at nearly as high a level, and there is much more work that depends directly on the specific process you are targeting. Much more work at the physical level falls to the fabless semi companies. So it is much more work to retarget a design to a different foundry or process.
The site looks nice, but I think you'd benefit from having some beta testers who are not familiar with HW design already. I mention a few issues below, which I hope you take as constructive suggestions of how to improve the site, and not just as criticism.
It feels a bit like you are expecting completely inexperienced users, but the site doesn't quite anticipate their needs. Loading on mobile was not legible (which is fine, it's an early version.) Switching to the desktop version, the instruction for the initial design to "set" a bit is unclear. What is the function you want the user to implement? It's underspecified.
Further, there needs to be an explanation of what a testbench is, before you present a "Run" button, as well as an explanation as to what stimui the TB will present, and even the entire idea of Verilog simulation. It would be good to have an opportunity to see the testbench code and what the site expects the correct output to be; I didn't see an option for that. New users may not understand waveforms at all without an explanation.
The AI component is fine, but it feels a bit like all of the educational aspect has been delegated to the user to ask questions of the AI. A user who is inexperienced would not even know to use the word "testbench" is to frame their questions. I would suggest some careful thought as to who exactly your target audience is, and specifying early on what prior knowledge you expect them to have.
Thank you for taking the time to give a detailed feedback. We have a mix of beginners and experienced users, so your points about clear instructions makes sense, we will definitely see to that.
We are working on beginner-friendly starting points with zero-to-hero roadmaps for each tool and niche. We have basic roadmaps for RISC-V, x86, and embedded C already, and we are adding them for more topics and is also working on developing visual aids to ease the learning process.
Showing the testbench code and expected outputs in task briefs is a great idea. We are working on detailed summaries that explain test inputs and expected outputs in every task brief.
When simulation runs into errors, our AI mentor automatically gives context-aware responses and mini-lessons. We will also add suggested prompts to help new users get started.
If you have any more suggestions or want to share what would help you as a new user, we would love to hear. We are learning and improving continuously.
You are buried in the details. The guy is a hero who opposed a fascist takeover of the US government. He's not going to have any difficulty finding employment.
I had a CS professor as an undergrad who would teach a couple of advanced seminars in his own research area. His approach to those simplifications was to announce, "I'm going to lie to you now, but just go with it and I promise that later we're going to learn the real truth." I liked that as a compromise, to make some practical progress, but not to mistake the simplification for full understanding. (And he wasn't rigid about it -- if somebody would ask a deeper question he'd happily answer it to some level and then get on with his plan.)
According to this link, Paulo Coelho has a net worth of over $500 million and didn't get there by giving away books, so perhaps your example is not well-chosen.
Pretty presumptuous to tell someone that they shouldn't be paid for their life's work, and then to tell them they should be happy someone pirated it. For the exposure!
There was already a design of CADR for FPGAs [1] that does synthesize (and boot), I don't know why amszmidt needed to start again from scratch or if his design is a modification of the earlier one.
A similar comment applies to lm-3. Maybe it is built on a fork of the previous repo, it is hard to tell.
Yes, the site and the video are complete vaporware. But from the examples, it sounds they are targeting architectural and RTL-level design. There's no indication that they are trying to replace the physical design flow. So it wouldn't have any bearing on what foundry fyoure able to use to fab your chips. Anyone using this would be in a position no different than if they had hand-written their RTL.
The reason "--" autocorrects to an em dash in practically any word processing software (not talking about browsers) is that that's the accepted way to type it on a typewriter. And you don't need to go into any system settings to enable it. It came in around when things like Smart Quotes came in.
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