Re: [vhdl-200x], vital issues


Subject: Re: [vhdl-200x], vital issues
From: Ray Andraka, Andraka Consulting Group, Inc (ray@andraka.com)
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 11:06:05 PST


I second that. Some tools (eg Aldec) already handle mixed VHDL and edif
simulation (as well as verilog). I'm not sure the amount of work required
on both sides of the fence justifies the gains.

At 10:15 AM 3/13/03 -0800, Steve Casselman wrote:
>Why isn't EDIF appropriate for this kind of thing?
>
>Steve
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Ajayharsh Varikat" <ajay@cadence.com>
>To: <vhdl-200x@server.eda.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:35 PM
>Subject: RE: [vhdl-200x], vital issues
>
>
> >
> > This is an important point. The behavior of Verilog gates
> > under VHDL involves both language partitions, and it is difficult
> > to get it right by just standardizing the VHDL side of the
> > equation. I believe it is important to have a standard that
> > encompasses both languages.
> >
> > regards,
> >
> > -ajay
> >
> >
> > ----- Begin Included Message -----
> >
> > From owner-vhdl-200x@eda.org Thu Mar 13 04:59 IST 2003
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> > From: "John Shields" <jshields@synopsys.com>
> > To: <rob@reawebtech.com>, <vhdl-200x@eda.org>
> > Subject: RE: [vhdl-200x], vital issues
> > Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 00:22:33 +0100
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>2003
> >
> > I think it is defining language interoperability
> > that is desirable so that mixed language designs have standard
> > semantics. Verilog can and should keep the gate-level modeling
> > domain. It is a speed issue and an economic issue to maintain
> > duplicate gate level libraries.
> >
> > The # of licenses issue is a business issue, but the interoperability
> > problem has been explored and mostly solved (albeit with proprietary
> > solutions). Perhaps one of the vendors can propose a standard
> > for interoperability to Accellera? This is not really
> > just a 200x or 1364 issue, which is what will make it difficult to
> > achieve.
> >
> > Regards, John
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-vhdl-200x@eda.org [mailto:owner-vhdl-200x@eda.org]On Behalf
> > Of Rob Anderson
> > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 1:57 AM
> > To: vhdl-200x@eda.org
> > Subject: Re: [vhdl-200x], vital issues
> >
> >
> > Actually the VHDL netlist is not as much as a problem as the
> > VHDL gate models. It would be nice to have precompiled libraries,
> > whether they came from Verilog or whatever is not of "vital"
> > importance. I'd be glad to see less of vital models, they do
> > not show VHDL in a good light.
> >
> > The netlist itself does not lead to inefficiencies, it contains
> > no models, just connectivity. I don't see savings to be gained
> > by reading in a Verilog netlist over a VHDL netlist.
> >
> > There are still of course problems reading netlists, mostly
> > environmental, library related since the netlist is multi-use.
> > Not clear things are better in Verilog.
> >
> > The SDF is the same regardless, excepting of course that VHDL
> > "out" ports cannot be read so one has to artificially inflate
> > the design before the VHDL and Verilog netlist signals can have the
> > same names. (this issue is on our list) This would be a real
> > headache if you tried to read a Verilog netlist into VHDL.
> >
> > It is worth noting the trend is away from having setup-hold, skew,
> > etc. checked in the models. These things are checked in the STA,
> > where there is more information than the SDF has. For simulation,
> > there is more interest in fast models. So we could have simpler
> > VHDL gate models for simulation, if there was any incentive for
> > the simulation people to supply them (did you ever see software
> > get smaller?)
> >
> > --Rob
> >
> > Jim Lewis wrote:
> >
> > > Francoise,
> > > I see there being two aspects to this.
> > >
> > > 1) Read Verilog Gate-level Netlists
> > > Vital is not enjoying the wide support we wished for.
> > > Vital is also slow compared to Verilog gate-level netlists.
> > > If Vital died, silicon vendors would only need to support
> > > one gate-level library format. EDA vendors would no longer
> > > need to support Vital. Hence, this would be good for both.
> > >
> > > However, the current situation is not good for VHDL designers,
> > > because to use a VHDL testbench with a Verilog gate-level
> > > netlist will cost me two licenses, one for VHDL and one
> > > for Verilog. Note for a Verilog designer it would only
> > > cost one license.
> > >
> > > To benefit both users and vendors, it would be best if
> > > Verilog gate-level netlists were included as part of the
> > > langauge.
> > >
> > > 2) Standardized Verilog Interface
> > > Standardize how to connect a Verilog design to VHDL.
> > > This would take us away from a Vendor specific
> > > implementation (which at the current time may or may not
> > > be identical, but it would be nice if it were documented
> > > somewhere in the standard).
> > >
> > > This of course should and will likely cost two licenses.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Jim
> > >
> > > Francoise Martinolle wrote:
> > >
> > >> I noticed in the priority spreadsheet that a few people (Jim Lewis,
> > >> Williams and Bishop)
> > >> have voted for read and simulate Verilog netlists.
> > >> I was wondering of one of them could provide a short description of
> > >> this request.
> > >>
> > >> thanks
> > >> Francoise
> > >> '
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- End Included Message -----
> >

--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email ray@andraka.com
http://www.andraka.com

  "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
   temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
                                           -Benjamin Franklin, 1759



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