- What is VHDL200x?
- VHDL2006 Enhancements - coming soon
- VHDL200x Future updates- coming soon
What is VHDL200x?
VHDL200x is an initiative to update VHDL, with the intention of offering significant enhancements
to the language.
There are two parts to the VHDL200x initiative:-
- A new language release - VHDL2006. This contains fast-track language updates
for immediate implementation. A new standard, VHDL-2006-D3.0, was approved by the industry standards body
Accellera in July 2006.
- A roadmap for future development, containing longer term plans for the next revisions of the
language
Motivation for VHDL200x
VHDL93/02 have met design and verification challenges for over a decade, however design complexity
is growing very fast and verification complexity is growing exponentially. There is also increased
competition from other languages, such as SystemVerilog and SystemC.
To meet these challenges, new methodologies are being developed, particularly in verification. For example:-
- Constrained random testing
- Assertion Based Verification (ABV)
- Higher levels of abstraction (Object-Oriented Design)
- Transaction based verification
Some of these methodologies are partially support in VHDL at the moment, but pressure is growing for
updates to the language with the intention of allowing easier adoption of these methodologies. An update to VHDL
is also an opportunity to fix outstanding issues in VHDL, such as syntax, operators, packages,
constructs etc. In addition, greater efficiency is being required in simulation run times, and code creation
and maintainability. All of these issues are being addressed in the VHDL200x initiative.
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