[Coco] OT: Respect for hardware engineers

[Boisy G. Pitre]

Please pardon this off-topic post; I never do this, but feel compelled to do so for this reason:

This semester I took a graduate level hardware course entitled: "Computer Design & Implementation."  In this class, we worked with a Xilinx Spartan 3AN FPGA development board and designed various adders and multipliers in Verliog.  As a software guy, I found this course challenging to say the least. There is a completely different dimension to writing for hardware than software.

My respect for the knowledge and experience that hardware engineers on this list possess has grown significantly after taking this course. I will never again question the time it takes to design and test a hardware solution, especially one built on an FPGA.

Specifically I want to tell James Daggett: I know I apologized to you before publicly for taking you to task about your delays on the GIME project, but this time I am going to prostrate myself and give you proper deference.  I had no idea just how detailed and complex this stuff is for just simple ALU constructs like adders, multipliers and dividers; now I have a little bit of understanding.  Whether or not you complete the project, you are courageous just for taking on the task.  My apologies again for the past remarks I've made.
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Boisy G. Pitre
http://www.tee-boy.com/