A wire-wrap design aid, written in PROLOG

Abstract Wire-wrap based prototypes are widely used to evaluate electronic circuit designs. In the course of evaluation, the design may change, and the prototype must be modified accordingly. Much effort is required both to design an initial prototype implementation, and subsequently to modify an existing prototype to conform to design changes. Some of the problems associated with prototype design and modification are discussed, and the basic aspects of a program which addresses them are presented. An interesting feature of the program is that it uses a novel method, based on optimization by simulated annealing, to minimize wire connection lengths. The entire program is written in Prolog.