INTEGRATED SILICON-SOFTWARE COMPILER

A computer-aided system and method is disclosed for designing an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) whose intended function is implemented both by a hardware subsystem including hardware elements on the integrated circuit and by a software subsystem including a general purpose microprocessor also on the integrated circuit. The system also generates software instructions for use by the software subsystem. The system utilizes a knowledge based expert system, with a knowledge base extracted from expert ASIC designers, and thus makes it possible for ASIC's to be designed and provided quickly and economically by persons not having the highly specialized skill of an ASIC designer.