Computer aided design - Fact or fable?

Extremely sophisticated circuit analysis programs are in common use throughout the entire semiconductor industry. Today´s electrical engineer has available to him circuit analysis tools heretofore unknown in the electronics industry. The steady-state and transient characteristics can be accurately calculated for highly complex transistor circuits. It is argued that despite the degree of mathematical sophistication contained in these computer programs, the equivalent circuits used to approximate the semiconductor components (transistors, resistors, etc.) are crude and inadequate. Thus, an a priori calculation of an integrated circuit is within reach of the entire semiconductor industry - although we lack satisfactory equivalent circuit approximations for the semiconductor components.