The {\bfseries Caltech Intermediate Format (C\+IF)} consists in a limited set of graphic primitives used to describe the shapes on each layer of an integrated circuit (see \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltech_Intermediate_Form}{\tt http\+://en.\+wikipedia.\+org/wiki/\+Caltech\+\_\+\+Intermediate\+\_\+\+Form} for more informations). ~\newline
Although the C\+IF format allows hierarchical description and supports several shapes, in this driver, we do not use hierarchy and only use Polygons.\hypertarget{cif_cifDB}{}\section{Stand alone database structure}\label{cif_cifDB}
\item\mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit}} contains all C\+IF circuit informations such as the name, the unit used, the scale and the list of all Polygons.
\item\mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_polygon}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Polygon}} describes a Polygon (a set of points).
To drive a C\+IF file, user has to create one \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit}} and as many \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_polygon}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Polygon}} as the number of shapes of the layout. The \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_polygon}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Polygon}} objects can be created independently from for the \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit}} but must be finally added to the \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit}} using \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit_a5b37e86206e2a128ba6db4987dc09a39}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit\+::add\+Polygon()}}.~\newline
Once the \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit}} is complete, simply call the \mbox{\hyperlink{class_c_i_f_1_1_circuit_a90c823b70c4984f302c19ceca604d101}{C\+I\+F\+::\+Circuit\+::write\+To\+File()}} method to drive the database to file.\hypertarget{cif_cifExamples}{}\section{Examples}\label{cif_cifExamples}
As said is the global presentation, V\+L\+SI S\+A\+PD project provides C++ libraries and Python modules for each supported format. In this section we present two simple code examples to drive a C\+IF file using C++ or Python. These two examples drive the same file {\ttfamily transistor.\+cif\+:}
In order to compile this code, a C\+Make\+Lists.\+txt file is provided. User must set the \$\+V\+L\+S\+I\+S\+A\+P\+D\+\_\+\+T\+OP variable before running these commands in the directory containing the C\+Make\+Lists.\+txt file\+:
In order to run the {\ttfamily drive\+Cif.\+py} script, user must ensure that \$\+P\+Y\+T\+H\+O\+N\+P\+A\+TH variable points to the directory containing C\+I\+F.\+so module.
