sganguly@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Shantanu Ganguly) (12/14/90)
After several inquiries, I realized that I'd better post this on the net rather than try individual replies: Here is the README file from the University of Pittsburgh simulator. It has the names of the developers, I guess they can be contacted regarding how to obtain a copy of the software. From what I could find out - Syracuse Universiry paid about $75 for the simulator - probably a s/h + cost of tape charge. Shantanu Ganguly Syracuse University sganguly@cat.syr.edu -----------------README FILE-------------------------------------- Last Modified: 2/6/90 -- Alan R. Martello, University of Pittsburgh OVERVIEW -------- This is the README file for the VHDL toolset distriuted by the University of Pittsburgh. The tools currently supported are a VHDL 1076 Compiler and a Simulator. The compiler parses (hopefully) the entire 1076 syntax. A database is built from a subset of the VHDL parsed (the VHDL which is parsed but not built into the database is thrown out after warnings are generated). The subset of VHDL parsed is discussed in the man pages. An event driven simulator exists which can read the database generated and allow for simulation of the output network. The tools simulate both concurrent and sequential VHDL. The concurrent VHDL is simply built into a network of gates and the sequential VHDL is translated to 'C' code. To perform a simulation utilizing sequential code, a new simulator must be linked to include the translated constructs. PLATFORM -------- The only platform totally supported is the SUN-3 series (since these are the computers used for the code development). However, we attempt to allow the tools to be run on a variety of platforms. All the tools are textual and may be run on "dumb" terminals. The tools have been known to work on the following platforms: - Sun-3 - Sun-4 - VAX/VMS - VAX Ultrix - Apollo PORTING ------- The code has been written in fairly generic 'C' and should be easily portable to any "standard" (Berkley/4.2) Unix environment. A System V port should not be much of a problem, the only troublesome area should be "strings.h". All I/O is done via "standard" Unix calls and any Unix compatible library should suffice. There has been substantial interest in a PC port of the tools. However, this is not currently being attempted by us. The standard Unix YACC could not be used to generate the VHDL parser due to the number of production rules associated with the grammar. Instead, we use the GNU tool Bison to compile the grammar and create the parser tables. We find this tool more robust, reliable, and faster than YACC. The tools assume that they are running in a "virutal" environment since the parser generated by Bison is extremely large and each data structure in the threaded database graph generated is allocated dynamically. If you have successfully ported the tools to another environment, we are interested in receiving a description of the environment (along with any code modifications). Bug fixes and enhancements are made as time permits and this allows for continued support of multiple platforms. DISCLAIMER ---------- This code has evolved over the past few years from a Master's thesis to a PhD project. In the process, it has undergone at least one substantial rewrite and variaous areas have been greatly reworked. The work in its current form has NOT been supported directly either by the University of Pittsburgh or by any outside funding. As such, enhancements and bug fixes are only performed to further our current research goals. NOTE: these tools are Copyright 1989-1990 University of Pittsburgh and Alan R. Martello and as such, may NOT be sold either in whole or part without the written consent or the authors. SOURCE STRUCUTRE ---------------- The following files and directories are of particular interest: README this file INSTALLATION installation notes VERSION_HISTORY a chronological history of the compiler development, a MUST for anyone modifying the code. COPYRIGHT the Copyright notice NO_WARRANTY our NO WARRANTY statement bison.tar a 'tar' file of Bison for those without it source directories of interest: exaples/ a few examples doc/ the (scarce) documentation vsim/ the simulator source vcomp/ the compiler source include/ include files used by both the compiler and simulator VMS_BIN/ misc. files used for running under VMS bin/ place where the installed binaries live lib/ place where the vsim library lives THANKS ------ Thanks to: Bob Owens at Penn State University Kevin J. Buchs at Mayo Foundation