After some futher consideration, I have elected to try creating a branch of my HDL rewriting tool as a combination of the Antlr v3 and Netbeans projects, instead of Antlr with a custom user interface. Rather than reinvent what another project freely provides, I hope to make a relatively adroit user experience by utilizing the Netbeans Platform APIs. Watching the API screencasts, Netbeans could be just what I am looking for.

Version 6.9 of the open source AWStats project has been installed to generate statistics for this domain: tstotts.net. Hopefully, over time, it will provide some interesting information. Unfortunately, the web server (apache) log format was originally set to "common" rather than "combined", and had to be changed. This causes the statistics to reset and start today, September 19, 2009. View the statistics.

This afternoon was my seventh session of what is called neurofeedback therapy at Syracuse Neurofeedback in Syracuse, NY. (About a 1.5 hour drive East from Rochester, NY.) Each session I sit at a computer screen and play one of a selection of video games that is both controlled by a joystick as well as my brain waves. My favorite game is called "Inner Tube". In this game, I fly a small space ship through a tunnel collecting, or avoiding, "power ups" and attempting to not touch the tunnel walls. The flight must also be completed within a certain allotment of time, otherwise the player cannot advance to the next level. While it is simpler than most flight simulation or first person shooter games on the market, "Inner Tube" has the unique function of directly interfacing with one's EEG brain wave measurements. Using this data, the game trains the brain to function with a particular mode at a particular brain site by dynamically changing the speed of the ship and the depth visibility of the tunnel. To succeed through a level, the player must learn to relax and operate one's mind in a way that is both peaceful and high in performance.

Some significant benefits I have received from neurofeedback already are improved sleep and dieting impulses, and a general sense of mental well-being. The most significant benefit however seems to be a new found ability to "detach" from the computer screen or television; that while engaged in work or recreation with either the computer or TV, the technology does not "draw me in," but rather remains at a mental distance. I increasingly believe that such detachment from technology, even if using it around the clock, is a necessary part of living a values-based lifestyle; where affinity is something to be experienced with relationships with real people, and conceptual learning, and detachment with the tangible items of life, rather than the opposite; and neurofeedback has provided me with the ability to better discipline myself toward that goal.

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This evening I finished reading a book titled The Beautiful Side of Evil (1982), by Johannna Michaelsen. The odd, but appropriate title refers to her experiences of sincerely seeking Jesus within the context of occultic spirituality; and a testimony of eventually finding spiritual freedom by renouncing her occultic past and committing to a personal relationship with the very different Jesus of the bible.

Having myself attended a "personal and professional development" seminar in Rochester that utilized the same "tools" that Michaelsen terms "Mind Control," the book helped me think through some of what I already believe to be true about God and reality. By not applying the wisdom found in the bible, I feel that many good-intending secular, and even Christian programs easily adopt variants of what the bible forbids as alternate spirituality. These beautiful, scientific spiritualities seem to have potential for very deceptive and/or destructive ends while sincerely attempting to expand one's mind or develop one's personality.

As of late, I have found that expanding one's mind and developing one's personality are important goals in life; but that Christians should be wary of doing so outside the context of the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ in their life. Michaelsen uses her personal experience to explain how to discern between these two diametrically opposed world views and remain committed to Christ.

To keep myself occupied while job searching, I have created the initial workings of a software tool to rewrite HDL source files according to a set of user-specified rules. The tool employs the open source ANTLR v3 project to implement a full VHDL-2008 lexer and parser. (Verilog might also be added.) The open source ANTLR technology supports building token rewritable Abstract Syntax Trees; and I have created IEEE 1076-2008 compliant grammar files that make full use of this feature. The grammars are complete, unsimplified, and modestly optimized for LL(*) parsing speed.

For the time being I have chosen not to release many details, including potential use cases, or even what I hope the tool to have as an eventual product name (trademarked?). However, the basic functionality of the software is simple: input HDL models, analyze, rewrite according to a set of high-level user-provided rules, output new valid and verified HDL models. As of now, the lexer, parser, and XML "project file" file format are implemented and working, along with automated high-level regression test cases; and a graphical user interface is under development. My first milestone of functionality completed is the ability to—what I will term "hardcode" or "partially-compile"—fully evaluate constant declarations within a VHDL project, within the VHDL context of package, architecture, or entity, and then remove the declaration(s) from the sources.

After some extensive research, the most cost-effective route for implementing a proprietary HDL rewriting tool, based on compiler theory (and not just scripting some regular expressions), with lowest-cost technology turned out to be Java. The Java language has a good selection of mature compiler-compilers available for the creation of lexers and parsers. This particular language will also allow the tool to operate on nearly any desktop, and not just the Windows operating system. Since the tool is not intended as a source code editor, but rather a batch operation processor, a custom Swing GUI was decided to be sufficient. Had I intended the tool to be a source code editor I probably would have followed the path of other developers in creating an extension of the Eclipse or Netbeans projects. My modest, yet pragmatic GUI will allow the user to create an XML project file that specifies a list of batch operations and their respective parameters.