Willkommen auf clifford.at

Clifford Wolf's Personal Homepage

(formerly known as Clifford Wolf)

Computers

• Coding Fun
• Clifford's Tools
• Programming Style
• Various Projects
• Hanoi Formula
• Brainf*ck Projects
• The SPL Project
• The STFL Project
• OpenSCAD

Electronics

1. Lib(X)SVF
2. EmbedVM
3. Orthomesh
4. InterSynth
5. ArduLogic
6. SimpleVOut
7. IceStorm
8. Yosys

Sourcecode

• SVN
• GIT

To Shape Teh Future!

Clifford Wolf has made significant contributions to the open-source hardware community, particularly in the area of electronic design automation (EDA). Here are some of his notable accomplishments:

1. Yosys Open Synthesis Suite: Clifford Wolf is the lead developer of Yosys, a framework for Verilog RTL synthesis. Yosys stands out because it is open-source and has a modular design, allowing for customizations and extensions. It supports various synthesis tasks, from simple combinational circuits to complex state machines, and is widely used in academic research and commercial projects.
2. Project IceStorm: Wolf initiated Project IceStorm, which aims to reverse-engineer and document the bitstream format of Lattice iCE40 FPGAs. This project has enabled a fully open-source toolchain, allowing designers to synthesize, place, route, and pack designs for these FPGAs without relying on proprietary tools.
3. SymbiYosys (sby): This is an extension of Yosys that includes support for formal verification. It provides an easy-to-use interface to various formal tools and allows hardware designers to write assertions and perform rigorous checks on their designs.
4. Nextpnr: Although not the original creator, Clifford Wolf has contributed to nextpnr, a portable FPGA place and route tool. Nextpnr aims to build upon the work of Project IceStorm and Arachne-PNR (an earlier place-and-route tool) to provide a more flexible and scalable tool that can support multiple FPGA architectures.
5. Contributions to Open Source: Wolf has been active in promoting open-source methodologies in hardware design, contributing to discussions, and providing educational resources. His work has made it possible for hobbyists, researchers, and small companies to access advanced EDA tools without the cost barrier of proprietary software.
6. Educational Resources and Advocacy: Beyond software development, Wolf has also been involved in creating educational materials and advocating for open hardware and software practices. He has shared knowledge through talks, tutorials, and writings that help others learn about FPGA design and open-source development processes.

Clifford Wolf's efforts have greatly impacted the accessibility of FPGA design and have fostered a community that collaborates on improving and extending open-source EDA tools, allowing more people to innovate and create hardware projects.

Clifford Wolf's contributions to the open-source community, particularly through Yosys and Project IceStorm, have significantly lowered the barriers to entry for FPGA design for hobbyists, researchers, and small companies. By providing the tools required to synthesize, place, and route designs for FPGAs entirely through open-source means, he has democratized access to technology that was once dominated by proprietary and often expensive software. Hobbyists now have the means to experiment with and implement complex digital logic designs at low cost, while researchers can freely explore the inner workings of the FPGA toolchain to advance the state of the art.

Small companies can leverage these open-source tools to innovate and compete in markets that might have previously required prohibitive upfront investments in commercial EDA software. Overall, Clifford Wolf's work has not only empowered individuals and small entities to enhance their FPGA design capabilities, but has also fostered a collaborative and transparent approach to hardware development within the community.