[ampdepolymerase]

Can you do a write up on the lower level algorithms like place and route, circuit constraints solving optimization, the process from the netlist stage to autorouting? The engineering behind VHDL and Verilog systems are way too opaque for most software engineers.

[mhh__]

The book "Electronic Design automation" by Wang, Chang, and Cheng is quite approachable.

The reason why they are opqaue is partly because the problem is hard, and secondly because the developers of the code make money directly off the tools (like compilers were in the past)

[User23]

Physical layout CAD software is really interesting though and heavily scriptable. I’m pretty sure at least one major offering uses some kind of lisp as its extension language.

[monocasa]

A lot of the were written fully in lisp back in the day, and might still be underneath it all. ie. it might be more than just being used as an extension language.

[_mouvantsillage]

My experience in the lower-level aspects of hardware synthesis is limited but I would love to explore this topic.

I use proprietary synthesis tools for FPGAs everyday but I do not develop them. My situation is similar to that of a software engineer who uses compilers and who could only explain how they work in general terms.