where can i find the quick reference for SKILL language?

I am a beginner of cadence tools.I know only a little about SKILL language,
where can i find the quick reference about the SKILL language?

thanks.

 

CIW input pane

or
CIW -> Tools -> SKILL Development... -> Finder...

I think that's what you are looking for.

The Quick Reference as a paper copy is available form
Cadence direct sometimes!?

Bernd

 

or from the Terminal
'cdsFinder'

 

I usually get my copy at ICU. My copy of the orange book (latest
edition) appears to have walked off, though. Yes, these are valuable
commodities even within the company! One can tell how long a person has
been at or working with Cadence by the colors of the SKILL quick ref
books on their bookshelf...

While I'm on the subject, I'd highly recommend attending ICU (now
rebranded as CDNLive) -- there's a lot of technical "meat" there. Even
better, submit a paper!

http://www.cadence.com/cdnlive/

 

When you go into Sourcelink, the home page has a search field. Is this
where you type the function name or is there a documentation section on
sourcelink. What is the fastest way to navigate to the documentation?

I have been doing what you do also as far as finding functions, but
once I know the function name I open up the documentation to get all
the details.

 

It will be good if the cdsFinder has a button which when pressed would
open a browser page with the complete description of the function i.e
integrate cdsdoc with the cdsFinder.

regards,

 

It seems like a worthwhile feature.

I filed product change request 795791 just now asking for this feature.

I'd guess the problem might be storing the "metatag" or whatever in the
CDSFinder database that associates the SKILL function with a certain
reference location in the CDSDoc ... but it's worth asking for as it
would point you to the full doc as opposed to the truncated doc of the
CDSFinder database.

 

To make it clear to all:

The SKILL Finder database contains, essentially, the description of the
SKILL function UP TO THE FIRST CARRIAGE RETURN of that description.

Everything else is found in the CDSDoc documentation.

John Gianni
"Nothing I post to the USENET is sanctioned by my employer beforehand."

 

The "official" mechanism to obtain the SKILL QUICK REFERENCE (SQR) has
always been to purchase from your sales team at $350.oo per copy;
however, as David mentioned, for the past four or five years, I've been
giving a few hundred out as a "Courtesy Copy" to DAC Suite & ICU (now
CDNLive) attendees.

There's no promise I'll continue to do so; but, to give you a hint, the
wonderful technical publications folks hired a contractor last month to
try to build the next (IC5251) version of the SKILL Quick Reference in
time for late summer distribution. This very different twelfth printing
will contain the complete DFII CDBA access to the IC5251 release,
which, as you know, is a DFII release which operates on the OpenAccess
database. It is slated to contain an informative foldout of the
improved technology access and the CDBA access to DFII on OpenAccess.

BTW, many Customers have purchased the SQR (usually in bulk during
their sales engagement); the $350.oo charge does NOT even come close to
the actual expense of creating them ... but Cadence continues to create
the SQR because Customers love 'em (and that's what SKILL is all
about)!

Indeed.
Ever since Andrew Beckett and I (and others) created the first SQR,
we've been improving them steadily, year after year.

The initial March 1994 SQR was Cadence red and only contained core
functions; then we made the ground-breaking Cadence green SQR with a
thousand application functions added; then Cadence red again with more
than two thousand documented application functions; then Cadence blue
with three or four thousand; then two printings of Cadence orange with
over five thousand documented public functions; and now ... PURPLE???

Actually, I was going to go to Cadence purple for the IC5251 CDBA
access, but the mere suggestion of purple evoked nasty stares when I
suggested that color in a marketing meeting. I'm therefore thinking
of going back to Cadence red (what do you think?) for the upcoming
(late summer) IC5251 SQR.

BTW, it would be really nice for someone to compile a library of all
twelve Cadence SKILL Quick References.

It would be like having the Collector's Edition of SQRs!

John Gianni
"Nothing posted by me on the USENET is sanctioned prior by my employer!"

 

Your sales team is always the main contact for the paper SQR.

In addition to what Bernd noted above, there is also the SKILL "help()"

function which was added to DFII six years ago (as per my 1999 PCR
#233620).

EXAMPLE:
% skill

Loading skillDev.cxt

help( [S_name] ) => t/nil

Retrieves and prints the cdsFinder documentation strings for the
given function name (a symbol). If the given name is a string, it is
interpreted as a regular expression, and the entire cdsFinder database
is searched for functions whose name or documentation string contains
or matches the given string. This process may take some time.
Help is an nlambda function.
t

Consulting cdsFinder database (may take a while) ...
nil

fscanf( p_inputPort t_formatString [s_var1 ...] )
=> x_items/nil
scanf( t_formatString [s_var1 ...] )
=> x_items/nil
sscanf( t_sourceString t_formatString [s_var1 ...] )
=> x_items/nil

The only difference between these functions is the source of
input. fscanf reads input from a port according to format
specifications
and returns the number of items read in. scanf takes its input
from piport implicitly. scanf only works in standalone SKILL
when the piport is not the CIW. sscanf reads its input from a
string instead of a port.
t

println( g_value [p_outputPort] ) => nil

Prints a SKILL object using the default format for the data type
of the value, then prints a newline character.
t

fscanf, scanf, sscanf, getWarn, infile, instring, ipcReadProcess,
ipcWaitForProcess, isReadable, lineread, linereadstring, load,
loadstring, outfile, pp, putpropq, putpropqq, read, readTable,
readstring
t

nil

help("^print[A-Z]")

printFunctions, printObject, printVariables, printViolations
t

%

John Gianni
"Nothing whatsoever I post to the USENET is sanctioned by my employer."

 

SKILL is well documented.
Learning SKILL is easy.
This question has been asked many times.
You can find a lot of references in comp.cad.cadence searching for:
"SKILL tutorial"

In summary, these are excellent SKILL references for a beginner:
- SKILL Language User Guide
- SKILL Language Reference

Once you write a few programs, branch out to the applications:
- DFII SKILL Functions
- Development SKILL Functions
- User Interface SKILL Functions
- Schematic Composer SKILL Functions
- Layout Virtuoso SKILL Functions
- Techfile & Display Resources SKILL Functions
- Floorplanning SKILL Functions
- Analog Artist SKILL Functions
- Open Simulation System Reference
- IPC SKILL Functions
- SKILL++ Object Oriented Programming
- Cadence Application Infrastructure User Guide
- Component Description Format (CDF) User Guide

All of these are shipped with DFII and are on Sourcelink.
In addition, there are many SKILL classes (the Cadence user group
generally gives them for $50 a day which is a bargain you should never
miss!).

John Gianni
"Nothing I post here is sanctioned by my employer."