HISDL—a structure description language

ABSTRACT

The features of a language designed for the description of the structure of computer systems are described. The structure of a system is specified hierarchically as an interconnection of components with each component being a named instance of a component type. The system itself is another component type. The interconnection between components is specified in two ways: either by specifying all the ports that are connected together, or by specifying a component and the ports that are connected to its ports. A structure specification is a list of such connection specifications. The language has an iterative construct for specifying highly regular structures, and a conditional construct is also provided. A component type can be recursively specified while parameterization of component type specifications is supported. The latter is particularly useful for specifying classes of components of similar structure.

REFERENCES

• 1: Barbacci, M.R., Barnes, G.E., Cattell, R.G., and Siewiorek, D.P. The ISPS computer description language. Tech. Report CMU-CS-79- 137, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1977 (updated 1979).
• 2: C. Gordon Bell , A. C. Newell, Computer structures: Readings and examples (McGraw-Hill computer science series), McGraw-Hill Pub. Co., 1971
• 3: Randal E. Bryant, MOSSIM: A switch-level simulator for MOS LSI, Proceedings of the 18th conference on Design automation, p.786-790, June 29-July 01, 1981, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
• 4: Glenn R. Case , Jerry D. Stauffer, SALOGS-IV-A program to perform logic simulation and fault diagnosis, Proceedings of the 15th conference on Design automation, p.392-397, June 19-21, 1978, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
• 5: Christopher, T., E1-Dessouki, O., Evens, M., Kabat, W., and Wagle, S. A Fastbus system description language. In Proc. 1980 Int. Conf. on Parallel Processing, August 1980, pp. 149-150.
• 6: Jack B. Dennis , G. Andrew Boughton , Clement K.C. Leung, Building blocks for data flow prototypes, Proceedings of the 7th annual symposium on Computer Architecture, p.1-8, May 06-08, 1980, La Baule, United States [doi>10.1145/800053.801902]
• 7: Hill, F.J., Swanson, R.E., Masud, M., and Navabi, Z. Structure specification with a procedural hardware description language. IEEE Trans. Computers C-30, 2 (Feb. 1981), pp. 157-161.
• 8: Hosler, B.W. The design and implementation of a PMS level hardware interconnection language. Tech. Report CMU-CS-79-150, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1979.
• 9: Keller, R.M. Towards a theory of universal speed-independent modules. IEEE Trans. Computers C-23, l (Jan. 1974), pp. 21-33.
• 10: Klein, S., and Sastry, S. Parameterized modules and interconnections in unified hardware descriptions. In Computer Hardware Description Languages and their Applications, M. Breuer and R. Hartenstein (Eds.), North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, Holland, 1981, pp. 185-195.
• 11: Kung, H.T., and Leiserson, C.E. Systolic arrays (for VLSI). Sparse Matrix Proceedings 1978, I.S. Duff, and G.W. Stewart, (Eds.), SIAM, 1979, pp. 256-282.
• 12: Lincoln Laboratory, M.I.T. Semiannual technical summary: Restructurable VLSI program, Rep. DTIC AD-A096075, Lexington, Mass., Mar. 1980, pp. 11-14.
• 13: Lincoln Laboratory, M.I.T. Semiannual Technical Summary: Restructurable VLSI program. Rep. DTIC AD-AI08276, Lexington, Mass., Mar. 1981, pp. 21-23.
• 14: Maxey, G.F., and Organick, E.I. CASL--A language for automating the implementation of computer architectures. In Proc. 4th Int. Syrup. Computer Hardware Description Languages, Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 1979, pp. 102-108.
• 15: Carver Mead , Lynn Conway, Introduction to VLSI Systems, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1979
• 16: Pawlak, A., and Jezewski, J. MODLAN--A language for multilevel description and modeling of digital systems. In Computer Hardware Description Languages and their Applications, M. Breuer and R. Hartenstein (Eds.), North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, Holland, 1981, pp. 79-93.
• 17: Preston, G.W. (Ed.). Report of IDA summer study on hardware description language, IDA Paper P-1595, Science and Technology Division, Institute for Defense Analysis, Arlington, Virginia, 1981.
• 18: Peter G. Raeth , John M. Acken , Gary B. Lamont , John M. Borky, Functional modelling for logic simulation, Proceedings of the 18th conference on Design automation, p.791-795, June 29-July 01, 1981, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
• 19: Shiva, S.G. Computer hardware description langnages--A tutorial. Proc. IEEE 67, 12 (Dec. 1979), pp. 1605-1615.
• 20: W. M. vanCleemput, An hierarchical language for the structural description of digital systems, Proceedings of the 14th conference on Design automation, p.377-385, January 1977
• 21: Wu, C., and Feng, T. On a class of multistage interconnection networks. IEEE Trans. Computers C-29, 8 (Aug. 1980), pp. 694-702.

INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.4 INPUT/OUTPUT AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS
      B.4.3 Interconnections (subsystems)
          Subjects: Topology (e.g., bus, point-to-point)
  B.5 REGISTER-TRANSFER-LEVEL IMPLEMENTATION
      B.5.2 Design Aids
          Subjects: Hardware description languages
  B.6 LOGIC DESIGN
      B.6.3 Design Aids
          Subjects: Hardware description languages

  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications
          Subjects: Design languages

General Terms:
Design, Languages

Keywords:
connection specification, hardware description language, hierarchical structure description, iterative structure description, structure description language