[sifar]

>> rather than something more like the difference between programming GPUs and CPUs.

Again, I get your point, but you are really trivializing HW design here and I don't want anyone starting or migrating from SW to get a wrong impression that you can just pick it up. Sure, with enough thought, patience, skill and hard work anyone can do it - but that applies to anything. But don't expect that just because you know Scala or are a good parallel programmer, you can design good HW that is PPA competitive. You have a better shot than others, but that's it.