Electronic Design Automation (EDA) is a term from the 1970s that’s used to describe computer software tools that help people design, simulate, optimise,verify, and characterise electronics. It’s an expanding segment currently valued at nearly $10 billion. EDA software is used by all companies involved with hardware design and development, from communication devices, computers, displays and mobile phones to ‘Internet of Things’ industries and many more.
In this article I make the case that we should move away from EDA and its ‘culture’ because it embodies a lot of what many of us despise about the tools we use. We need to let some EDA concepts die and replace them with modern ones. We should do this in order to increase our productivity, welcome newcomers, and enable us to create more interesting and complex designs and products. My experience is mostly with circuit boards and chip verification, but what I’ll talk about easily applies to other EDA, CAD, and simulation tools.