I have been "requesting" such a tool for a long time.
Why? Because most of the circuits designed today are mostly digital, and they include IC which are very integrated: lots of functions, and often lots of pins.
So, in the end, you have IC that you cannot represent properly, meaningfully, on a schematic (they have too many pins and many of them can bear a different function depending on configuration); and you spend your time connecting buses or other digital signals... with a non-negligible percentage of error.
What do you use 90% of the time? Straight connections from bus to bus, a few pull-ups/pull-downs here and there, and a good amount of decoupling capacitors, of just 1 or 2 different values, between the same pins. A RC filter on some inputs, a crystal oscillator there. That's almost all, the real analogue circuits parts are
generally small, so even if they are more painful to write and read compared to a schematic, there will still be an overall gain in describing the circuit by text.
Being able to do that (writing those elements and links) in some descriptive language (HDL) would be great. There's a reason why we switched from schematic to HDLs for FPGA / ASIC design. And this reason become more and more meaningful for PCB design too. (Also it would make diffs much easier.)
I had written some syntax example for such HDL, but I suck at compilers and stuff.
I will have a look at this project, even though I fear it won't satisfy me and won't implement what I want. I generally find languages that are piled upon an existing one cumbersome, verbose and unfit for the specific purpose . Especially a descriptive language upon a programming language.
Why? Because most of the circuits designed today are mostly digital, and they include IC which are very integrated: lots of functions, and often lots of pins.
So, in the end, you have IC that you cannot represent properly, meaningfully, on a schematic (they have too many pins and many of them can bear a different function depending on configuration); and you spend your time connecting buses or other digital signals... with a non-negligible percentage of error.
What do you use 90% of the time? Straight connections from bus to bus, a few pull-ups/pull-downs here and there, and a good amount of decoupling capacitors, of just 1 or 2 different values, between the same pins. A RC filter on some inputs, a crystal oscillator there. That's almost all, the real analogue circuits parts are generally small, so even if they are more painful to write and read compared to a schematic, there will still be an overall gain in describing the circuit by text.
Being able to do that (writing those elements and links) in some descriptive language (HDL) would be great. There's a reason why we switched from schematic to HDLs for FPGA / ASIC design. And this reason become more and more meaningful for PCB design too. (Also it would make diffs much easier.)
I had written some syntax example for such HDL, but I suck at compilers and stuff.
I will have a look at this project, even though I fear it won't satisfy me and won't implement what I want. I generally find languages that are piled upon an existing one cumbersome, verbose and unfit for the specific purpose . Especially a descriptive language upon a programming language.