ACAP-a system for the interactive graphical capture of module generators

Tools for the interactive graphical capture of module generators are presented. By using incremental compaction to position objects in a layout, and capturing these operations, textual generators can be created without typing a line of code. Incremental compaction consists of two fundamental operations, alignment and as-close-as-possible (ACAP) object compaction. The tools considered consist of a procedural and graphical interface to incremental compaction, a human interface to aid in the creation of layouts, and the ability to capture the operations used in the creation of a layout. Due to the use of incremental compaction, generators can be built which are very tolerant of design rule and technology changes, since design rule information is hidden in the incremental compaction functions