Shmoo Plotting: The Black Art of IC Testing

“It was a cute little white, squash-shaped cartoon character created by Al Capp in his comic strip “Li’l Abner,” in 1948, see figure 1. Shmoos bred like rabbits and could produce any object at the drop of a hat. Since they loved to please humans, they would willingly pump out milk, eggs, filet mignon, caviar, or anything else if requested. At first glance Shmoos seemed to herald the arrival of Utopia. Unfortunately, a plethora of Shmoos meant that people quit their jobs, stopped paying taxes, and civilisation as we know it began to degenerate quickly or so Al Capp sought to demonstrate in his mildly didactic way.”