Do the designs work? [VLSI design education]

The author presents a philosophy of VLSI design education based on four premises: managing a VLSI design requires a hierarchical approach; a library of standard cells simplifies and increases design reliability; VLSI design requires interaction between the designer and a supportive CAE (computer-aided engineering) environment; and to allow reliable design by inexperienced designers, the CAE environment must assure design correctness. Training inexperienced designers requires providing feedback (including grades) on whether or not their designs work. The CAE tools must provide this feedback at all levels of the design process: layout circuit, logic and architecture. Assuring that designs work is a necessary part of design education. To achieve this, feedback to designers is essential at all levels and stages of the design process