Tools (Score 3, Insightful)

Kevin Nermoyle (Sun VP) advocated asynch at the 2001 uProcessor Forum. The biggest and most daunting objection I heard in response was that tool support would be a killer. There is no tool support for asynch design at the complexity level needed to do a processor. You're left to a bunch of Dr. Crays using the length of their forearm to resolve race conditions with wiring distance. Since a large portion of the industry would have to make the leap to get the tool guys to invest in development, this kills any realistic possibility of an overnight asynch revolution. Small niche applications will have to get the ball rolling on this. Even still, designer's would need to get a lot smarter to think asynch. Think of how many chip protocols rely on a clock. How do you do even simple flow control in a queue for example? Pipelining goes to pot - its a whole different world. My two-cents.. Loli