50 Years of DAC Moments

h THE 50TH DESIGN Automation Conference (DAC) was held in June of 2013. Fifty years of anything is amazing, especially in our young industry. To celebrate, DAC asked attendees to contribute their DAC moments. Here are a few excerpts, edited for space. You can find the complete set of DACMoments at http://dac.com/content/my-dac-moment-50-yearsmemories. Thenext DAC, the 51st, will be held in San Francisco, CA, USA, 1–5 June 2014. David Artz’s DAC Moment: I took my wife who was six months pregnant, to the 1989 Las Vegas, NV, DAC. I had purchased a topof-the-line Sony 8-mm consumer video camera and brought it along with me so my wife and I could take videos of Las Vegas. As we were checking into the hotel, I spotted a bunch of my engineering buddies and called them over to show them my new hightech toy. At the same time, I told the person behind the check-in counter that we needed a room. She looked at me, my pregnant wife, the camera, and the other guys, and said ‘‘for all of you?’’ Man oh man! I guess Las Vegas is a lot crazier than I ever imagined. Kevin Chou’s DAC Moment: DAC ’99 in New Orleans. It was my first DAC and I was working for CadMOS. I recall frantically looking on Bourbon Street at 7 am for a fan. Our demo systems were overheating in the booth enclosures. Aart de Geus’ DAC Moment: My team, which had become a part of Calma had developed a program called SOCRATES, known today as ‘‘Design Compiler,’’ this synthesis tool was getting some great results. Because we were presenting a paper on it at DAC anyway, we decided to take SOCRATES to DAC and get some feedback from potential commercial users. This is where the approach became a bit more ad-hoc: we put together a hand-glued poster that promised $50 to all who could beat SOCRATES in implementing a set of Boolean equations. Armed with a little computer, our dandy poster, and a lots of naBve enthusiasm, the SOCRATES team showed up uninvited and unannounced at the Calma booth to ‘‘save the day.’’ To say that they were less than enthusiastic about our impromptu new ‘‘product demo’’ is an understatement. The idea of a $50 contest against some research-like program explained with a homebrewed poster inside their professionally pristine booth was not really how Calma rolled out new products. However, while the responsible party for the Calma booth had a minor melt down, the interest of the customers was huge. Kathryn Kranen’s DAC Moment: My favorite DAC memory: Las Vegas in 1996. I was working for Quickturn at the time, and my nowhusband Kevin worked for Synopsys. On the Wednesday morning of DAC, Kevin ‘‘popped the question,’’ and I eagerly accepted his proposal. We then both rushed off to our various DAC meetings. I was mesmerized by my diamond engagement ring, sparkling under the huge lights in the exhibit hall. That evening, some friends and Kevin and I looked for an Elvis wedding chapel, thinking a fake wedding photo would be a fun way to spring the engagement news on our parents. Alas, all the Elvis wedding chapels were booked on a Wednesday! Wally Rhines’ DAC Moment: My most memorable DAC was one I didn’t attend: 1982 in Las Vegas. After running TI’s Microprocessor