[SI-LIST] Re: Using general purpose computer tools to solve SI problems
- From: "Martin Euredjian" <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 20:48:03 -0700
I've found many uses of Excel and Word, primarily when coupled with the VBA
automation tool or an external program that gains access to the data. Word
is very nice to format and parse ASCII files.
Excel has found its way into two fairly extensive applications (months to
develop).
The first is as a data entry/maintenance system for EDA tool schematic and
land-pattern symbol development. This is significantly easier to manage
than doing it the CAD way, particularly if you are dealing with large BGA's
with hundreds of pins. For example, I can define a 500 pin BGA's land
pattern and choose to slice and dice it in different ways for different
schematic symbols according to the project needs.
The other interesting use for Excel is as the data entry/database system for
an automated code generator that produces very large and complex
table-driven state machines for embedded systems (well, 8051 assembler at
the moment, C as soon as the need arises). An obvious application is the
generation and maintenance of a menu system for an embedded device. You can
move menu branches around, add and delete branches, even edit names, etc.
and, after a few clicks, have new code to cut and paste into the source
file. A HUGE time saver, not to mention the very valuable avoidance of
human data-entry error due to the tedium and repetition involved.
I have found applications that require more than the 2^16 rows Excel offers.
In this case, I've used MS Access to import and manipulate comma delimited
files with hundreds of thousands of rows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian
eCinema Systems, Inc.
voice: 661-305-9320
fax: 661-775-4876
martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ecinema@xxxxxxxx
www.ecinemasys.com
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