#import "../ugent-template.typ": *

= Conclusion

In this thesis, a new approach for the description and subsequent programming of
photonic processors combined an easy-to-use programming language with powerful
new features, such as constraints, reconfigurability through branching, and
tunability. Together, these features create a modern, flexible, and novel
hardware description language that is able to describe a wide range of photonic
circuits and can be used for both the development of circuits for photonic
processors, as well as the development of standalone photonic circuits.

This design was created after a thorough analysis of existing programming
languages and paradigms was performed, shedding light on each language's
strengths, weaknesses, and applicability. The analysis showed that modern
languages with fully-featured first-party ecosystems are good candidates for
developing a new language and implementing libraries but that a new hardware
description language was needed overall. This new language, called @phos,
results from months of research and development and is the first hardware
description language to combine aspects of modern programming languages with
unique features designed specifically for photonic circuits.

Through the analysis of relevant, real-world examples, this thesis has shown
that @phos is a powerful language that is appropriate and useful for the
development of photonic circuits. The examples have shown that @phos is able to
concisely describe complex circuits, their constraints, and functionality while
still being easy to read and understand. Additionally, it was demonstrated that
the constraint solver used for simulations is, despite its early stage, already
usable to create meaningful results and that the simulation of photonic circuits
can be done quickly and efficiently.

@phos has also been designed so that it can be created by a relatively small
team, by reusing existing algorithms and libraries available in both the _Rust_ and _Python_ ecosystems.
This makes @phos an ideal candidate for future development of photonic circuit
programming, as it is easy to expand, modify, and maintain.

Finally, the design of the @phos language has shed light on new areas of
research into which photonic circuit programming can be expanded, including the
development of a new, more powerful constraint solver, the use of
state-of-the-art type systems for improved correctness, and the ability to use
the language for the development of non-traditional computing such as analog
computing.