Reusing CAD tools in object oriented based framework

The growing importance of VLSI is gaining it much attention, but the increasing complexity of VLSI also creates lots of problems for computer scientists to work on. If no other new way to help designers is developed, then the whole design process will become more difficult to maintain. That's why there is a need for an object-oriented (OO) design framework for the CAD world. Not only is it necessary to develop new methods for CAD, but the extension of reuse technology into the design process will also become a main key to success. We propose an OO-based framework with an object specification language (OSL) for reuse. In our OO design framework, CAD tools are reverse-engineered into a toolbox in a reuse library. During the design (reuse) process, toolboxes are selected automatically for the design process. Thus, tool selection, integration and adoption problems are merged into the design process, together with the OSL specification. With this OO design framework, tool reuse and design data reuse can be automatically integrated into the design process.