myhdl/doc/source/manual/intro.rst

.. currentmodule:: myhdl

.. _intro:

*********************
Introduction to MyHDL
*********************

.. _intro-basic:

A basic MyHDL simulation
========================

We will introduce MyHDL with a classic ``Hello World`` style example. All
example code can be found in the distribution directory under
:file:`example/manual/`.  Here are the contents of a MyHDL simulation script
called :file:`hello1.py`:

.. include-example:: hello1.py

When we run this simulation, we get the following output:

.. run-example:: hello1.py

The first line of the script imports a number of objects from the ``myhdl``
package. In Python we can only use identifiers that are literally defined in the
source file.

Then, we define a function called :func:`HelloWorld`. In MyHDL, a hardware
module is modeled by a function decorated with the :func:`block` decorator. The
name :dfn:`block` was chosen to avoid confusion with the Python concept
of a module. We will use this terminology further on.

The parameter list of the :func:`HelloWorld` function is used to define the
interface of the hardware block. In this first example, the interface is empty.

.. index:: single: decorator; always

Inside the top level function we declare a local function called
:func:`say_hello` that defines the desired behavior. This function is decorated
with an :func:`always` decorator that has a :func:`delay` object as its
parameter.  The meaning is that the function will be executed whenever the
specified delay interval has expired.

Behind the curtains, the :func:`always` decorator creates a Python *generator*
and reuses the name of the decorated function for it. Generators are the
fundamental objects in MyHDL, and we will say much more about them further on.

Finally, the top level function returns the :func:`say_hello` generator. This is
the simplest case of the basic MyHDL code pattern to define the contents of a
hardware block. We will describe the general case further on.

In MyHDL, we create an *instance* of a hardware block by calling the
corresponding function. The :func:`block` decorator make sure that the return
value is actually an instance of a block class, with a useful API. In the
example, variable ``inst`` refers to a :func:`HelloWorld` block instance.

To simulate the instance, we use its :meth:`run_sim` method. We can use it to
run the simulation for the desired amount of timesteps.

.. _intro-conc:

Signals and concurrency
=======================

An actual hardware design is typically massively concurrent, which means that a
large amount of functional units are running in parallel. MyHDL supports this
behavior by allowing an arbitrary number of concurrently running generators.

With concurrency comes the problem of deterministic communication. Hardware
languages use special objects to support deterministic communication between
concurrent code. In particular, MyHDL  has a :class:`Signal` object which is
roughly modeled after VHDL signals.

We will demonstrate signals and concurrency by extending and modifying our first
example. We define a hardware block that contains two generators, one that
drives a clock signal, and one that is sensitive to a positive edge on a clock
signal:

.. include-example:: hello2.py

.. index::
   single: VHDL; signal assignment
   single: Verilog; non-blocking assignment

The clock driver function :func:`clk_driver` drives the clock signal. If defines
a generator that continuously toggles a clock signal after a certain delay. A
new value of a signal is specified by assigning to its ``next`` attribute. This
is the MyHDL equivalent of  the VHDL signal assignment and the  Verilog
non-blocking assignment.

.. index:: single: wait; for a rising edge

The :func:`say_hello` function is modified from the first example. It is made
sensitive to a rising edge of the clock signal, specified by the ``posedge``
attribute of a signal. The edge specifier is the argument of the ``always``
decorator. As a result, the decorated function will be executed on every rising
clock edge.

The ``clk`` signal is constructed with an initial value ``0``. One generator
drives it, the other is sensitive to it. The result of this communication is
that the generators run in parallel, but that their actions are coordinated by
the clock signal.

When we run the simulation, we get:

.. run-example:: hello2.py

.. _intro-hier:

Parameters, ports and hierarchy
===============================

We have seen that MyHDL uses functions to model hardware blocks. So far these
functions did not have parameters. However, to create general, reusable blocks we
will need parameters.  For example, we can create a clock driver block as
follows:

.. include-example:: ClkDriver.py

The block encapsulates a clock driver generator. It has two parameters.

The first parameter is *clk* is the clock signal. A asignal parameter  is
MyHDL's way to model a dfn:port:. The second parameter is the clock *period*,
with a default value of ``20``.

.. index:: single: decorator; instance

As the low time of the clock may differ from the high time in case of an odd
period, we cannot use the :func:`always` decorator with a single delay value
anymore. Instead, the :func:`drive_clk` function is now a generator function
with an explicit definition of the desired behavior. It is decorated with the
:func:`instance` decorator.  You can see that :func:`drive_clk` is a generator
function because it contains ``yield`` statements.

When a generator function is called, it returns a generator object. This is
basically what the :func:`instance` decorator does. It is less sophisticated
than the :func:`always` decorator, but it can be used to create a generator from
any local generator function.

The ``yield`` statement is a general Python construct, but MyHDL uses it in a
specific way.  It has a similar meaning as the wait statement in VHDL: the
statement suspends execution of a generator, and its clauses specify the
conditions on which the generator should wait before resuming. In this case, the
generator waits for a certain delay.

Note that to make sure that the generator runs "forever", we wrap its behavior
in a ``while True`` loop.

Similarly, we can define a general :func:`Hello` function as follows:

.. include-example:: Hello.py

.. index:: single: instance; defined

We can create any number of instances by calling the functions with the
appropriate parameters. Hierarchy can be modeled by defining the instances in a
higher-level function, and returning them. This pattern can be repeated for an
arbitrary number of hierarchical levels. Consequently, the general definition of
a MyHDL instance is recursive: an instance is either a sequence of instances, or
a generator.

As an example, we will create a higher-level function with four instances of the
lower-level functions, and simulate it:

.. include-example:: greetings.py

As in standard Python, positional or named parameter association can be used in
instantiations, or a mix of both [#]_. All these styles are demonstrated in the
example above. Named association can be very useful if there are a lot of
parameters, as the argument order in the call does not matter in that case.

The simulation produces the following output:

.. run-example:: greetings.py

Terminology review
==================

Some commonly used terminology has different meanings in Python versus hardware
design. For a good understanding, it is important to make these differences
explicit.

.. index:: single: module; in Python versus hardware design

A :dfn:`module` in Python refers to all source code in a particular file. A
module can be reused by other modules by importing it. In hardware design on the
other hand, a module typically refers to a reusable unit of hardware with a well
defined interface. Because these meanings are so different, the terminology
chosen for a hardware module in MyHDL is *block* instead, as explained earlier
in this chapter.

A hardware block can can be reused
in  another block by :dfn:`instantiating` it.

.. index:: single: instance; in Python versus hardware design

An :dfn:`instance` in Python (and other object-oriented languages) refers to the
object created by a class constructor. In hardware design, an instance is a
particular incarnation of a hardware block, created by *instantiating* the block.
In MyHDL, such as block instance is actually an instance of a particular class.
Therefore, the two meanings are not exactly the same, but they coincide nicely.

Normally, the meaning the words "block" and "instance" should be clear from the
context. Sometimes, we qualify them with the words "hardware" or "MyHDL" for
clarity.

.. _intro-python:

Some remarks on MyHDL and Python
================================

To conclude this introductory chapter, it is useful to stress that MyHDL is not
a language in itself. The underlying language is Python,  and MyHDL is
implemented as a Python package called ``myhdl``. Moreover, it is a design goal
to keep the ``myhdl`` package as minimalistic as possible, so that MyHDL
descriptions are very much "pure Python".

To have Python as the underlying language is significant in several ways:

* Python is a very powerful high level language. This translates into high
  productivity and elegant solutions to complex problems.

* Python is continuously improved by some very clever minds, supported by a
  large user base. Python profits fully from the open source development model.

* Python comes with an extensive standard library. Some functionality is likely
  to be of direct interest to MyHDL users: examples include string handling,
  regular expressions, random number generation, unit test support, operating
  system interfacing and GUI development. In addition, there are modules for
  mathematics, database connections, networking programming, internet data
  handling, and so on.

.. _intro-summary:

Summary and perspective
=======================

Here is an overview of what we have learned in this chapter:

* Generators are the basic building blocks of MyHDL models. They provide the way
  to model massive concurrency and sensitivity lists.

* MyHDL provides decorators that create useful generators from local functions
  and a decorator to create hardware blocks.

* Hardware structure and hierarchy is described with Python functions, decorated
  with the :func:`block` decorator.

* :class:`Signal` objects are used to communicate between concurrent generators.

* A block instance provides a method to simulate it.

These concepts are sufficient to start modeling and simulating with MyHDL.

However, there is much more to MyHDL. Here is an overview of what can be learned
from the following chapters:

* MyHDL supports hardware-oriented types that make it easier to write
  typical hardware models. These are described in Chapter :ref:`hwtypes`.

* MyHDL supports sophisticated and high level modeling techniques. This is
  described in Chapter :ref:`model-hl`.

* MyHDL enables the use of modern software verification techniques, such as unit
  testing, on hardware designs. This is the topic of Chapter :ref:`unittest`.

* It is possible to co-simulate MyHDL models with other HDL languages such as
  Verilog and VHDL. This is described in Chapter :ref:`cosim`.

* Last but not least, MyHDL models can be converted to Verilog or VHDL,
  providing a path to a silicon implementation. This is the topic of
  Chapter :ref:`conv`.

.. rubric:: Footnotes

.. [#] All positional parameters have to go before any named parameter.