How FPGAs work, and why people will buy them (2013)
&gt; FPGAs are a programmable platform, but one designed by EEs for EEs rather than for programmers.<p>This is the problem with FPGAs. Their performance and utility is not really disputed. Working with them is so un-ergonomic that it&#x27;s frankly embarrassing.<p>The EE world is notoriously closed&#x2F;proprietary making it incredibly difficult to explore novelty or customize tooling to suit specific needs. The situation is reminiscent of the pre-gcc era proprietary C compilers. Sure synthesis &#x2F; place and route are much harder problems than compiling to machine code but I would guess that fact amplifies the need.<p>One can&#x27;t really expect software&#x27;s current development comfort without acknowledging its driving force (GNU&#x2F;the free software movement).