The IMAGES Language

IMAGES serves as the primary medium for designing and describing the geometric and electrical properties of integrated circuits in the IDA environment. To some extent, the first function, design, competes with the second function, description. This is because the needs of designers are many and complex: They are involved in the synthesis and the exploration of an unlimited design space. On the other hand, if the only requirement were to describe an existing chip, the language could be simpler, the files smaller and the support software faster. Although one could consider using two different languages for these two purposes, this has been rejected because there is no clear point to draw the line. Any practical chip contains pieces that are old and fixed, while other portions are undergoing frequent human and machine modifications. Because of this dichotomy of purpose, the IMAGES language represents a compromise between ease of use and efficiency.