Verilog Translator

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Getting Started » History » Revision 4

Revision 3 (Alexander Kamkin, 05/06/2014 07:58 AM) → Revision 4/11 (Alexander Kamkin, 05/06/2014 08:35 AM)

h1. Getting Started 

 This is a step-by-step instruction for getting started with developing a "VeriTrans":http://forge.ispras.ru/projects/veritrans VeriTrans backend and using it within the Verilog translator environment. The term _backend_ refers to a component that traverses an _abstract syntax tree_ (_AST_) of the Verilog description and processes it in some way (e.g., constructs the internal representation and/or converts the description into some other language). The document is illustrated by the example of @VerilogPrinter@ (see the package @ru.ispras.verilog.parser.sample@). 

 h2. Developing a Backend 

 Technically, a backend is a Java object that implements the @VerilogBackend@ interface (the method @start@). Here is an example: 

 <pre><code class="java"> 
 import ru.ispras.verilog.parser.VerilogBackend; 
 import ru.ispras.verilog.parser.model.*; 
 ... 

 /** 
  * This class illustrates development of a Verilog backend. 
  */ 
 public final class VerilogPrinter extends VerilogBackend 
 { 
     /** 
      * Processes the abstract syntax tree (AST). 
      * 
      * @param root the AST''s root. 
      */ 
     public void start(final VerilogNode root) 
     { 
         ... 
     } 
 } 
 </code></pre> 

 To ease development of a backend, one can use @VerilogTreeWalker@, a "VeriTrans":http://forge.ispras.ru/projects/veritrans VeriTrans class that implements AST traversal. The @VerilogTreeWalker@''s constructor takes two parameters: (1) a reference to the tree''s root and (2) a visitor to be applied to the tree nodes: 

 <pre><code class="java"> 
 import ru.ispras.verilog.parser.walker.*; 
 ... 

 public void start(final VerilogNode root) 
 { 
     // Create the AST traverser. 
     VerilogTreeWalker walker = new VerilogTreeWalker(root, new VerilogNodePrinter()); 
     walker.start(); 
 } 
 </code></pre> 

 The most substantial part of backend development concerns creation of the AST nodes’ visitor, a subclass of the abstract class @VerilogNodeVisitor@. The visitor should implement two methods for each of the node types: 

 <pre><code class="java"> 
 // Pre-visitor: it is invoked before the child nodes are visited. 
 public void on<NodeType>Begin (final <NodeType> node); 

 // Post-visitor: it is invoked after the child nodes are visited. 
 public void on<NodeType>End     (final <NodeType> node); 
 </code></pre> 

 Supported node types include: 

 * Activity 
 * AssignBegin 
 * AssignStatement 
 * Assignment 
 * Attribute 
 * BlockGenerate 
 * BlockStatement 
 * CaseGenerate 
 * CaseGenerateItem 
 * CaseStatement 
 * CaseStatementItem 
 * Code 
 * Declaration 
 * DelayedStatement 
 * DisableStatement 
 * Generate 
 * IfGenerate 
 * IfGenerateBranch 
 * IfStatement 
 * IfStatementBranch 
 * Instantiation 
 * LoopGenerate 
 * LoopStatement 
 * Module 
 * NullStatement 
 * PathDeclaration 
 * Port 
 * PortConnection 
 * Procedure 
 * PulseStyle 
 * ShowCancelled 
 * Specify 
 * Table 
 * TableEntry 
 * TaskStatement 
 * TriggerStatement 
 * WaitStatement 

 h2. Registering a Backend