As VLSI design frameworks evolve, a distributed control mechanism for CAD tools has become a central research issue. In this paper, we present an object oriented tool integration methodology that treats the  tools as objects . This approach simplifies CAD tool control within a design framework making the framework more general, easier to use, and more capable of supporting a large population of CAD tools.
['James Daniell']
An Object Oriented Approach to CAD Tool Control within a Design Framework