The User Interface and Implementation of Caesar

John K. Ousterhout

EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/CSD-83-131
August 1983

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1983/CSD-83-131.pdf

This paper describes several novel aspects of Caesar, a layout editor for Manhattan-style integrated circuits. The program's user interface is similar to painting. By hiding many irrelevant details, the painting mechanism provides a powerful yet simple user interface. Its implementation using horizontal strips is efficient in both time and space. To handle large circuits efficiently, Caesar represents them hierarchically and capitalizes on their hierarchical structure to avoid excess computation and I/O. The rendering of mask information on color displays is done with a novel combination of transparent and opaque layers that clarifies layer interactions even in the presence of a large number of mask layers.


BibTeX citation:

@techreport{Ousterhout:CSD-83-131,
    Author = {Ousterhout, John K.},
    Title = {The User Interface and Implementation of Caesar},
    Institution = {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year = {1983},
    Month = {Aug},
    URL = {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1983/6328.html},
    Number = {UCB/CSD-83-131},
    Abstract = {This paper describes several novel aspects of Caesar, a layout editor for Manhattan-style integrated circuits. The program's user interface is similar to painting. By hiding many irrelevant details, the painting mechanism provides a powerful yet simple user interface. Its implementation using horizontal strips is efficient in both time and space. To handle large circuits efficiently, Caesar represents them hierarchically and capitalizes on their hierarchical structure to avoid excess computation and I/O. The rendering of mask information on color displays is done with a novel combination of transparent and opaque layers that clarifies layer interactions even in the presence of a large number of mask layers.}
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Report
%A Ousterhout, John K.
%T The User Interface and Implementation of Caesar
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 1983
%@ UCB/CSD-83-131
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1983/6328.html
%F Ousterhout:CSD-83-131