[sv-ac] Minutes of SV-AC Meeting 7/12/2011

Minutes of SV-AC meeting
Date: 2011-07-12
Time: 16:00 UTC (9:00 PDT)
Duration: 1.5 hours

Dial-in information:
--------------------
Meeting ID: 38198

Phone Number(s):
1-888-813-5316 Toll Free within North America

Live Meeting:
https://webjoin.intel.com/?passcode=9628489

Agenda:
-------

- Reminder of IEEE patent policy.
See: http://standards.ieee.org/board/pat/pat-slideset.ppt

- Minutes approval

- Champions Feedback
Mantis 3385 Possible ambiguity when deferred assertion action block
                (Erik)
                Opposed: Language: First person sentences, etc.
Mantis 2476 Need clarification about system functions $onehot, etc
                (Erik)
                Opposed: Consider using a queue of logic rather than
                                                 fixed 4-bit argument.
Mantis 3113 Add port_identifier to constant_primary BNF for sequences,
                properties and checkers
                (Laurence)
                Opposed: constant_range_expression too restrictive
Mantis 3135 Verbal explanation of nexttime and always is misleading for
                multiple clocks.
                (Dana)
                Friendly Amendment: Font Problem

- New issues
Mantis 3015 Examples of $fatal have bad arguments

- Issue resolution/discussion
Mantis 3033 Allow procedural control statements is checkers

- Enhancement progress update

- Opens

Attendance Record:
------------------
          Legend:
                  x = attended
                  - = missed
                  r = represented
                  . = not yet a member
                  v = valid voter (2 out of last 3 or 3/4 overall)
                  n = not a valid voter
                  t = chair eligible to vote only to make or break a tie

Attendance re-initialized on 2010-07-06:

   n[--xxx---xxxx-xxx-xxx...........................] Ashok Bhatt (Cadence)
   v[xx-xxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxx-x-xxxxx--xxx] Laurence Bisht (Intel)
   v[xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx-] Eduard Cerny
(Synopsys)
   v[xxxxxxx--------xx---xxx--x-xxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx] Ben Cohen (Accellera)
   n[----------------------------xx-x-xxx-x--xxxxxxx] Surrendra Dudani
(Synopsys)
   v[-xxxxxx........................................] Shaun Feng (Freescale)
   v[-x-x--x-x-xxxx-x-x----x-x-x--xx---xxxx---x-xxxx] Dana Fisman (Synopsys)
   n[--------------------------xxxxx-xxxx-x-xxxxxxxx] John Havlicek
(Freescale)
   v[x-xxx-xx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx] Tapan Kapoor (Cadence)
   v[xx-xxxxx-xxxx-x-x..............................] Jacob Katz (Intel)
   t[x--xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Dmitry Korchemny
(Intel ¿ Chair)
   v[xxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--xxxxxx-xxxxxxxx] Scott Little
(Freescale)
   v[xxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxx] Manisha
Kulshrestha (Mentor Graphics)
   v[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Anupam Prabhakar
(Mentor Graphics)
   v[xxx--xxx-xxxx-xxx-xxx--x-xx-xxx-xx--xxxxxxx-xxx] Erik Seligman (Intel)
   v[xxx-xxxxxxxxxx-x-xxx-xxxx-xxxx--xxxxxx-xxxxxxx.] Samik Sengupta
(Synopsys)
   v[xxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxx] Tom Thatcher
(Oracle ¿ Co-Chair)
   n[-----------xx---xx-------x.....................] Srini
Venkataramanan (CVC Pvt Ltd)
   n[-x.............................................] Vibarajan
Viswanathan (Marvell)
     |- attendance on 2011-07-12
   |--- voting eligibility on 2011-07-12

Minutes
-------
- Reminder of IEEE patent policy.
See: http://standards.ieee.org/board/pat/pat-slideset.ppt

- Minutes Approval
Erik: Move to approve minutes
Scott: Second
        Vote results: 10y, 0n, 0a

- Champions Feedback
Mantis 3385 Possible ambiguity when deferred assertion action block
                (Erik)
                Opposed: Language: First person sentences, etc.
Erik: Has modified the proposal to resolve Champions objections.
        Change was to change the sentence to third-person.
Tom: Move to approve
Erik: Second
        Vote results 10y, 0n, 0a

Mantis 2476 Need clarification about system functions $onehot, etc
                (Erik)
                Opposed: Consider using a queue of logic rather than
                        fixed 4-bit argument.
Erik: Dave Rich says that a fixed-size queue should be synthesizable
        Some examples were too obvious to Champions.
        Should be ready for an e-mail vote.
Jacob: Not sure any synthesis tool will support it.
        What about an unpacked array of fixed size.
        A queue is a special case of an unpacked array of fixed size.
Ed: Only other option would be to allow only single bit arguments,
             but a variable number of arguments.
        E.g. dumpvars allows variable number of arguments
Erik: Like the idea of variable number of arguments.
        Will re-write the proposal using this construct.
(Manisha joined)

Mantis 3113 Add port_identifier to constant_primary BNF for sequences,
        properties and checkers
        (Laurence)
        Opposed: constant_range_expression too restrictive
Lawrence: Has made changes for champions comments
        Recommend an E-mail vote.
Dmitry: Will call for an e-mail vote.

- New issues
Mantis 3015 Examples of $fatal have bad arguments
Dmitry: Entered by Shalom.
                Will call for an e-mail vote.

- Issue resolution/discussion
Mantis 3033 Allow procedural control statements is checkers
Dmitry:
Anupam: What is reason for keeping everything in Reactive.
        Only thing I can think of is Free variables.
Dmitry: Can't assign from seq.triggered(). i.e. in always_ff

Dmitry: Should we keep always inside checker?
        The always construct inside a checker is limited to be identical
        to always_ff
        Tom in favor of keeping: backward compatibility.
Ben: What about local variables in always.
        In module could define a variable local to the always, and
        can have blocking assignment to that local variable.
Tom: Current proposal: no blocking assigns allowed at all.
Ben: Okay with deprecating always, but . .
Dmitry Deprecate or not?
        Jacob: not sure
        Scott: yes
        Tom: no
        Ed: yes
        Lawrence: yes
        Anupam don't care
        Erik yes
        Samik yes
        Manish don't care but need to be sure we will never use again

Dmitry: Can't we just "un-deprecate" it if we need it in the future?

Dmitry: Static prefix restriction
        Removed it.
        Was put in for singale assignment rule. Now that we have always_ff,
        the always_ff imposes restriction that no other process can assign
        to the variable.
Dmitry: Initial assignment
        Restriction on initial assignments to variables is needed because
        of non-determinism because of procedure ordering at time 0.

Dmitry: Non-determinism example
Tom: Don't need this example. Need checker sampling to make always_ff
        act like a sequential element.
Anupam: What is the use for deferred assertions in always_ff blocks?

Dmitry: Immediate assertions in checkers. Currently illegal.
        Now don't know why it's necessary to make them illegal
        Any objections to removing this restriction?
Anupam: Why were they illegal in the first place?
Dmitry: We didn't allow if statements in always blocks, and immediate
        assertions act as an if.

Dmitry: Will modify proposal in response to comments

Meeting adjourned.

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