Developing Software Alone—And This Is the Finished Product! (Please Keep Reading)

Luo Yao couldn't figure it out.

Wu Tianming and Wang Ye were both smarter than most people, so why didn't they even understand something like an IP Core?

Luo Yao checked the time. It was 9:45.

The dorm lights went out at 10:30, and he needed to save ten minutes to wash up.

"I have half an hour right now. If you want, I can explain it to you."

Hearing that Luo Yao was willing to teach them, Wang Ye and Wu Tianming hurriedly grabbed their notebooks and laptops.

"An IP Core is a functional block that can be designed and verified in advance. When needed, it can be integrated into different digital circuits or systems."

"I know that. It's like a potato—a universal ingredient. You can braise it, throw it into hot pot, steam it, stir-fry it, boil it, deep-fry it, pan-fry it, or stew it." Wang Ye slapped his thigh as he spoke.

Although Luo Yao thought Wang Ye's example was ridiculous, he had to admit it was accurate.

But imagining an IP Core as a potato still felt strange to Luo Yao.

"Actually, designing an IP Core is simple. You design its architecture and logic based on the requirements. That includes functional modules, signal flow, state machines, and so on."

"For example, if you were designing a monitoring IP Core for a computer, what would you do?"

Wang Ye hadn't expected Luo Yao to suddenly quiz him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Uh... download Tencent PC Manager and study its features?"

Wu Tianming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Even if you took Tencent PC Manager apart, that wouldn't work."

"I would first integrate modules for CPU usage, memory usage, and temperature sensors to obtain the relevant data." After criticizing Wang Ye, Wu Tianming answered seriously.

"That line of thinking is right, but you didn't use a state machine."

"In the architecture, you need to design a finite state machine to gather the parameters you need, such as CPU usage. Otherwise, the data you get won't be real-time."

"Then that data can be sent to external devices through a configured communication interface."

"That is a simple architecture. In R&D, architecture is the most important thing."

"Let CPU usage, memory, and temperature sensors be submodules. Then we can now derive this:"

entity Monitor is

Port ( clk : in STD_LOGIC;

reset : in STD_LOGIC;

cpu_usage : in STD_LOGIC_VECTOR (7 downto 0);

memory_usage : in STD_LOGIC_VECTOR (7 downto 0);

temperature : in STD_LOGIC_VECTOR (7 downto 0);

data_out : out STD_LOGIC_VECTOR (23 downto 0));

end Monitor...

Luo Yao got more and more animated as he explained, directly taking Wu Tianming's laptop and beginning to type code.

"Santuo, why did you start coding without warning? Wait for me—I haven't even processed it yet!" Neither Wu Tianming nor Wang Ye was good at programming, so the sight of a screen full of code immediately sent them into a panic.

By the time Luo Yao had finished typing the code, Wu Tianming and Wang Ye beside him were already looking at him with awe.

"Santuo, how about you teach us programming first?"

Luo Yao: ???

He asked in disbelief, "You two don't know how?"

Wang Ye quickly defended himself. "It's not that we don't know how. Our foundations just aren't very good."

"What's the difference between that and not knowing? You just recognize a few more characters than other people." Luo Yao mercilessly exposed him.

Wu Tianming grew embarrassed as well. "Santuo, that hurt. If you're willing to teach us, we'll definitely study hard."

Study hard? That would practically mean teaching them from scratch.

Luo Yao was short on time and couldn't possibly tutor them in programming from the beginning. So he first got a sense of their level, marked the key points in their programming books, and then went to sleep.

Wu Tianming and Wang Ye also felt ashamed. Their material conditions were far better than Luo Yao's, yet they couldn't do what he could. That was hard for them to accept.

"We're not sleeping tonight! I have to figure out this programming stuff today!" Wu Tianming whispered to Wang Ye.

"Damn it! I'm not sleeping either. We'll work hard tonight, and tomorrow we'll make Santuo see us in a new light, so he doesn't really think we're idiots!"

"Come on! All-nighter!"

After Wang Ye said that, he immediately began reading at his desk. Wu Tianming refused to be outdone and did the same. Before long, the dorm lights went out, and the two of them switched on flashlights and continued studying.

When Luo Yao woke up at five the next morning, he saw that Wu Tianming and Wang Ye had already fallen asleep at their desks.

Did learning programming really require an all-nighter? Luo Yao didn't understand.

"Don't call me an idiot," Wang Ye mumbled, though it was unclear whether he was dreaming or not.

Luo Yao shook his head, quietly left the room, and headed for the Supercomputing Experiment Training Center.

The days passed one after another, and Luo Yao continued living like this.

Whenever he had time, he spent half an hour tutoring Wu Tianming and Wang Ye. The rest of his time was spent either attending class or at the Supercomputing Experiment Training Center.

EDA Software involved an enormous amount of programming. Fortunately, with the technology provided by the system, Luo Yao could churn out code almost without stopping.

Even so, there was no way Luo Yao could finish an EDA system within half a month.

Out of options, Luo Yao spent 5 points in the system store to purchase the one-time talent Automatic Programming.

Automatic Programming could generate relevant code based on the framework of Luo Yao's requirements, leaving him to simply wait.

While writing the functional simulation module, Luo Yao used the talent to automatically generate the CDC check module code. This was equivalent to having someone write code alongside him at the same time.

The Automatic Programming talent only needed a few seconds to generate code automatically, so as long as Luo Yao sorted out the framework, he could rapidly complete the corresponding modules.

The Automatic Programming talent lasted for three days. By the end of those three days, Luo Yao had obtained ninety-nine percent of the code.

For the remaining bit of work, he stayed up for another half month before finally finishing the EDA Software.

After completing the tests, Luo Yao packaged all the EDA Software code into an installer and copied it onto a hard drive.

Xia Qing would be returning to school soon.

How Luo Yao was supposed to give the hard drive to Xia Qing became a problem.

If he handed it in together with his assignment, he worried that the hard drive might end up in someone else's hands.

It seemed that the only option was to give it to Xia Qing personally.

Xia Qing collaborated with Huaji Company, a well-known domestic smart terminal provider. Whether the software was ultimately handed over through Huaji Company or an official agent made little difference to Luo Yao.

Both sides had money, anyway. Neither would shortchange him.

Some people believed the authorities had no money, but that was a mistaken notion. The authorities had never treated genuine talent poorly.

And coming to school was the most convenient and safest route for getting in touch with the authorities.

The next day, Xia Qing returned to school.

After lunch, Luo Yao contacted Xia Qing by text, saying that he wanted her to take a look at something he had recently developed.

Xia Qing thought he meant the assignment she had given out last time, so she told Luo Yao to submit it with the other students during the afternoon class.

But Luo Yao said it was important and that Xia Qing needed to look at it first.

Xia Qing knew that geniuses could be stubborn. Whatever they wanted to do, they would absolutely see through to the end. So although she knew Luo Yao's behavior was somewhat impolite, she still told him to come find her in her office.

When Luo Yao left, Wu Tianming and Wang Ye noticed him. But they had grown used to Luo Yao constantly going out during this period. They were busy giving their assignments, due that afternoon, one final check, so they did not ask him about it.

Luo Yao took the hard drive and found Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had a private office. The moment he entered, he handed her the red hard drive.

"Is all the assignment on here?"

Luo Yao nodded.

Xia Qing found it strange. Students usually used USB drives to submit assignments, so why had Luo Yao brought such a large hard drive?

Xia Qing connected the hard drive to her computer. As soon as she opened it, she discovered an installation file named L.vmx inside.

An installation file?

"Professor Xia, do you have a virtual system on your computer? It needs to be installed in a virtual system."

Hearing Luo Yao say that, Xia Qing casually opened the virtual system on her computer, then clicked the L.vmx icon and began the installation.

Very soon, an "L" icon appeared in the center of the screen. After entering the interface, Xia Qing's expression changed.

"Design and compilation tools, simulation tools, power analysis tools, physical verification tools, timing analysis tools, packaging design and analysis tools... This is EDA!"

She immediately turned to Luo Yao. "Luo Yao, what is going on?"

"I developed an entire EDA Software suite myself. This is the finished product." Luo Yao was not worried about Xia Qing investigating, because he had completed all the development work at the Supercomputing Experiment Training Center.

The surveillance footage there could prove that he was telling the truth.

And if anyone asked why he had managed to develop it in such a short time, he had an answer for that too.

He could simply say that he had started writing code when he skipped ahead from elementary school to middle school. Back then, he had spent most of his time in the library and rarely attended class anyway, so no one would be able to find any issues even if they investigated.

"Impossible! The difficulty of EDA development lies not only in the software itself, but also in the lack of comprehensive downstream data support. EDA is scarce in China right now, which is why there are only some third-rate domestic EDA Software products on the market." Since Xia Qing was going to lead a team researching EDA Software, she naturally understood the situation.

"Did you just put a new UI on other EDA Software, or is this only a framework?" Xia Qing could not help frowning at the thought.

Luo Yao was a student she thought highly of. She did not want him to do something that would damage his character just to receive praise.

"Professor Xia, you should have used Synopsys and Siemens EDA Software too. If this were just a reskin or only a framework, you would be able to tell easily."

Xia Qing said nothing. She knew Luo Yao was right. If it were merely a reskin or a framework, she really would be able to tell.

Without another word, Xia Qing began clicking through the interface on the computer.

She casually found a flawed circuit diagram among her documents and began testing it.

Very quickly, error messages began appearing on the screen, and the erroneous parts of the circuit diagram were marked with red lines.

It was actually real?!

Xia Qing's mind was in turmoil. A freshman who could accomplish this much would already be a prized talent that major tech companies fought to recruit, yet Luo Yao was claiming that he had developed an entire EDA suite?

Xia Qing then tested the simulation function. The whole system ran incredibly smoothly, producing the results she wanted without the slightest pause.

The internal logic was completely sound.

From that alone, Xia Qing could tell that the software Luo Yao had provided was not just a framework. It could respond rapidly as she operated it, carrying out tasks seamlessly and imperceptibly. Only a mature program could achieve that level of smoothness!

But could it be some reskinned knockoff software?

Xia Qing had no way to test that here. She looked up and asked Luo Yao seriously, "Luo Yao, let me ask one more time. Are you sure you made this yourself?"

"I'm sure. If you need to inspect it, I can provide all the code." Luo Yao's tone was calm, without the slightest hint of panic.

Xia Qing froze. Luo Yao had seen right through her intention to test the entire software.

"Alright. Wait a moment."

Right in front of Luo Yao, Xia Qing called Huaji.

"President Meng, this is Xia Qing. Are the people from Laboratory 012's EDA department free right now? I have something to discuss."