Hi,
I started to learn ISE and EDK 9.1i, but I spent much much time to get things running because they did not work as described in the manuals.
Now I write this posting in the hope that someone from Xilinx will read it and consider it for further software development.
I tracked down the problems to two sloppinesses which never should be done in software development:
a) The GUI does not evaluate the return code of programs it calls. This leads to situations where the GUI shows 100% complete, 0 errors but nothing has been done at all, which makes it very hard to find the real cause for subsequent errors.
b) Some command line programs like "simgen" return 0 even if errors occurred. Thus makes it impossible for "make" to stop on errors, and again, makes it very very hard to find the cause for subsequent errors.
Thus dear Xilinx programmers please note:
- NEVER ignore the return code of a program.
- Always return 0 on success and a value between 1 and 255 if an error has occured.
If you follow this hint you will save us (your customers) and your support department much time, money and nerves.
Is there a Xilinx manager out there who have ever considered how much money Xilinx must have wasted by not following this simple ground rules in software programming?
Best regards,
Franz Hollerer