Extension Guidelines Group Deliverables

From: Jay Lawrence (lawrence@cadence.com)
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 15:21:30 PST

  • Next message: Shalom Bresticker: "Re: Extension Guidelines Group Deliverables"

    BTF members:

    Below you will find the writeup agreed to by the extension guidelines
    group on what we believe our deliverables to be. This was unamimously
    agreed to by the group members on 10/28/03. I'm now forwarding it to the
    entire BTF so that at next Monday's meeting the charter can be discussed
    and hopefully approved so that further work can proceed.

    On a more personal note, my role in Cadence is changing and I will not
    be attending all the BTF meetings. As such, Kathy McKinley of Cadence
    will be taking over my role in this committee and attending the BTF
    meetings. She has broad experience in standardization, VHDL and Verilog.
    I hope you all will welcome her to the group.

    Jay

    Extensions Guideline Group (EGG) - Deliverables

    The mission of the Extensions Guideline Group is to specify a set of
    guidelines for appropriate uses of existing and new Verilog constructs
    when extending the language. The purpose of these guidelines is to
    ensure uniform and consistent usage of language elements in extension
    proposals between multiple BTF subcommittees working simultaneously to
    extend the language. The goal of the guidelines is to alleviate repeated
    discussion of fundamental principles for each new language proposal, and
    to define a process for submission, content and review of proposals by
    the BTF. The end result of consistent application of these guidelines
    will be a self-consistent Verilog 1364-200X language.

    The proposed deliverables of the EGG are:

    - Process Flow Specification

    This will document the process through which a potential language
    enhancement request becomes a proposal from the BTF to the VSG. The
    purpose of this specification is to ensure that there is a simple
    well-documented process through which a technology donation or
    enhancement request flows before becoming a part of the draft standard.
    The scope of this specification is from donation/request through
    presentation to the VSG. It is intended as a simple how-to guide and
    does not set new guidelines, by-laws or rules.

    - Extension Guidelines Specification

    This document will analyze 1364-2001 and propose appropriate use of
    existing language mechanisms when extending the language. This document
    will consist of two parts, language principles and language constructs.
    The language principles section will attempt to codify the "Spirit of
    Verilog". Principles such as declaration before use, backwards
    compatibility, built-in primitives, concise clarity, and implicit
    declaration will be discussed. The purpose of the principles section is
    to establish a set of guidelines that can informally be used to
    determine if a proposed extension is "Verilog-like". The language
    constructs section will analyze the components of the language such as
    identifiers, comments, keywords, system tasks/functions, operators, etc.
    and give guidelines on the role of that particular construct in the
    language.

    The purpose of this specification is to aid in creating of the "Proposal
    Evaluation Template" (below) and to document the consensus on
    fundamental extension mechanisms. This discussion and documentation of
    conclusions early in the 1364-200X process will avoid repeated debates
    on these fundamental principles when individual enhancements are
    considered.

    The scope of this document is originally the existing 1364-2001
    specification. It is anticipated that this will be a living document.
    During the standardization process the BTF may decide on additional
    principles or may approve new language constructs that should be added
    to the guidelines specification.

    - Proposal Evaluation Template

    This document will serve as a template to be completed by any
    subcommittee or working group member actually making a proposal for
    language extension. The purpose of this template is to provide a simple
    way to document the extent to which a proposal conforms to the
    guidelines provided in the Extension Guidelines Specification. The form
    of this document will be a set of questions to be answered by the
    champion of a given proposal. It may also prove valuable to committee
    members evaluating a proposal.

    ===================================
    Jay Lawrence
    Senior Architect
    Functional Verification
    Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    (978) 262-6294
    lawrence@cadence.com
    ===================================

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