RE: [vhdl-200x] Review of FT-32

I'm sorry that I've not been able to engage in the telephone meetings,
so I'm coming to this a little late, but I hope that people can agree
on a good middle path between flexibility and tight definition...

First, it's worth noting that much of the need for access to out-of-
scope names is related to checking in assertions and the like.
Such checks are invariably passive.  I wonder if Alex's concerns
could be eased if arbitrary out-of-scope references were to be 
allowed for read-only access?  That would nicely answer the 
needs of assertions.  It could be further strengthened by permitting
such access only by postponed processes, although that would
affect the behaviour of assertions in a way that users might find
objectionable even though in some ways it makes the behaviour
easier to understand.

The next step in this line of argument is to find a way whereby
out-of-scope objects can be written.  Personally I feel very strongly
that this should never be permitted except through a procedural 
interface - something along the lines of tasks and entry points in
Ada.  If done correctly this can make it very easy indeed to deal
with simple cases - a call to the out-of-scope subprogram will
never block if no other process is competing for the resources
it uses - whilst providing the interlock machinery that's needed
to handle more difficult cases when necessary. 

I know this comment is too little, too late - but thanks for
listening anyhow...
-- 
Jonathan Bromley, Consultant

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