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9 Translation

SIMSYNCH can translate its register-transfer-level designs to MACHXL, Verilog, or VHDL formats. The bulk of the work is performed by the files scm2mach, scm2vrlg, and scm2vhdl. The file run.scm defines translate, which drives the conversion.

— Function: translate design target-language

The symbol design should correspond to a file named design.scm, which contains the definitions.

The symbol target-language can be:

machxl
MACHXL 2 is a format devised by AMD for their PLDs. MACHXL 3, 4, and 5 are an unrelated commercial product. MACHXL 2 was available for free at one time.

translate creates a file named design.pds with the MACHXL definitions.

verilog
Verilog is a popular High level Design Language. Translate creates a file named design.v with the Verilog definitions; and design.acf with pin-name assignments. The acf format is used by the Altera MAXPLUS2 Version 8 fitter. ACF is not yet supported.
vhdl
VHDL is a popular High level Design Language. Translate creates files named design-tag.vhd with the VHDL definitions.

SIMSYNCH translates the following functions:

SIMSYNCH translates the following syntaxes. Remember that you are limited to this set only for signals which will be translated for the benefit of a logic compiler.

and
One vectorized expression can appear as the last argument to and.
or
Is recommended for booleans only.
number-or
Use number-or for combining clauses which return only vectorized values or #f.
if
The form is (if <test> <consequent> <alternate>).
case
qase
qase is an extension of standard Scheme case: Each clause of a case statement must begin with a list of literal datums, the corresponding list in a qase statement may contain either literal datums or the names of symbolic constants preceded by a comma. A qase statement is equivalent to a case statement in which all symbolic constants preceded by commas have been replaced by the values of the constants. This use of comma, (or, equivalently, unquote) is similar to that of quasiquote except that the unquoted expressions must be symbolic constants.
defconst
Symbolic constants are defined using defconst, their values are substituted in the head of each qase clause during macro expansion. In practice defconst constants should be defined before use.
synch:fifo
Instantiates a synchronous FIFO memory using make-ram.
synch:pre
Expands to the setter of its argument.