I just returned from a week in San Francisco where I attended the 60th Design Automation Conference. It was a typical week at DAC — cold weather in July, catching up with long-time industry friends, and lack of sleep from long days. Maybe I’m just cynical from having been to DAC since 1995 — which is apparently not that long after talking to a few people this week — but I didn’t have really high expectations for the show this time around. Frankly though, I found the overall experience much better than expected.