I am making corresponding changes to the Washington University Gigabit Switch design specification, and implementation of the input port processor chip VHDL code.
I have written the design specification (or what we locally call "the system architecture document") for a nonblocking multicast ATM switch with 150 Mbps, 600 Mbps, 1.2 Gbps, and 2.4 Gbps ports. The prototype will have 6 1.2 Gbps ports and 2 2.4 Gbps ports, but the same chips may be used to construct a switch with up to 32,768 2.4 Gbps ports (small modifications to them allow even more ports).
Besides the design specification, I've gotten my hands dirty writing VHDL code, simulating it behaviorally with Cadence's Leapfrog VHDL simulator, synthesizing it using Synopsys's VHDL Compiler and Design Compiler products, and simulating the resulting netlists with Cadence's Verilog-XL. I now see the world of software that assists one in designing hardware as it really is -- a web of many individual programs glued together with chewing gum and bailing wire (OK, I wrote this line on a particularly frustrating day). My job partially consists of shoring the structure up with our own chewing gum and bailing wire (home-grown scripts). I have written some notes on things we have found that don't work, and how to work around them.
Software written in Java that a group at Washington University is working on to implement these algorithms.
Doctoral Dissertation PostScript (1.6 MB)
Some day, I might get around to reorganizing the material in my dissertation to include more recent results, and put all of the ugly looking proofs in appendices. I'd recommend skipping or quickly skimming over the proofs in any paper you are trying to understand, not just my thesis. Of course, you might want to go back and read the proofs after understanding the main ideas -- skipping them is recommended until then. By the way, if you are actually enough of a glutton for punishment to get the thesis and read it, ignore chapter 8, as it is wrong (sigh). Fortunately, it is not the most important part of the work.
I don't cook terribly often, but when I do, I prefer to make things I really enjoy. Here are some of those recipes.
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, _Historical_Review_of_Pennsylvania_, 1759
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises,
I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it
gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played
with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body
and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the
constant companion of your walks."
-- Thomas Jefferson
The punishment of wise men who refuse to become involved in the
affairs of government, is to be governed by unwise men.
--Plato
"If they [casinos] had a form of gambling that would award the winners
a few more hours in a day, I might be drawn in."
-- Bill Gates, "The Road Ahead", 1995
"During the period [socialists] like to single out as illustrating the
evils of capitalism -- the era of the "robber barons" in the late
Nineteenth Century -- this country experienced unprecedented
immigration. The countries that have adopted socialism have
experienced unprecedented emigration -- until they closed their
borders to keep people in. The attractions of capitalist societies
speak for themselves, but it takes a lot of fancy ideological footwork
to justify socialism."
-- Joseph Sobran
"You know you have achieved perfection in design, not when you have
nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint Exupery.
"Ain't nothin's easy when you're doin' it fer real!"
-- A gunnery sergeant in the U.S. Armed Forces, according to someone
on Usenet. (If you know an attribution, please tell me!)
Actively maintained until December 2, 1997. Slightly updated on September 11, 2004.Email address obfuscated in the hopes that fewer programs that collect email addresses on the web will recognize it. If you're a human, you should be able to figure it out. andy_fingerhut at-the-machine alum SPOT wustl SPOT edu
