Hardware/software co-design then and now

Hardware/software co-design recently became a field of research and a method of development both important and fashionable. We show that it is a technique already used some decades ago, and discuss its various aspects, forms and benefits. At the same time, the advent of programmable devices is increasingly blurring the distinction between hardware and software, and thereby seems to render co-design an obvious, unavoidable strategy. This paper is dedicated to Wlad Turski, my old colleague and faithful friend in Warsaw since the times when "Eastern Europe" still belonged to a different world. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.