pjd@alpha.ces.cwru.edu (dr. funk) (03/16/89)
Wow, a lot of the right questions....
I've been working on a Macintosh HyperCard stack which is an attempt
to document a small toy computer (16 instructions.) The machine is
described at five different levels of abstraction (architecture,
organization, logic, electrical and physical) which are linked.
The stacks also include C language models for the machine, some
logical level (esim) models for components, some SPICE and layouts.
Needless to say, this took an inordinate amount of effort without a
"meta-level" tool for building the stacks. (Much of the "raw data"
was already at hand.) I suspect that future software/hardware design
environments will use a hypertext approach, but we're definitely not
there yet.
-> HyperCard was a good tool. SuperCard for the Mac promises to be better.
-> I like the software library idea. Closest thing we have now are
browsers of various capability.
-> At least you have a structured database from which links can be
built!
Sorry, no easy answers here.
paul j. drongowski usenet: {decvax,sun,att}!cwjcc!pjd!pjd
case western reserve university csnet: pjd@alpha.ces.cwru.edu