[Coco] OT: Respect for hardware engineers

[jdaggett at gate.net]

Boisy

The respect is mutual. I took a course in computer programming usig the MC68000. In that 
we covered basics of OS's like page memory mangament, context switching and some of the 
other basic tasks of an OS. I then knew why it takes a team of engineers to design an OS. 
Along with many many hours of regression testing to work the kinks out. 

I am still planning on finishing. I have been side tracked abit to complete some astronomy 
projects here. The first is to assemble a Classic cassegrain telescope from a mirror set that I 
obtained last year. Once that is complete then I plan to finish the controller for it. 

I use VHDL over Verilog simply a matter  of preference. Verilog to me is too much like C and 
I never managed to fully become comfortable with that. VHDL is more like Pascal and is 
actually based on ADA. To me it is more understandable. Why I have no ideas and still 
wondering why!

james

On 14 Dec 2009 at 21:01, Boisy G. Pitre wrote:

> 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.
> --
> Boisy G. Pitre
> http://www.tee-boy.com/
> 
> 
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