An applicative framework for VLSI programming.

In the last few years there has been a growing interest in language-based hardware design and analysis. Unfortunately, the choice of a linguistic framework is still a major issue. In this thesis we argue that an applicative, wide-spectrum linguistic framework in which specifications as well as implementations can be expressed is the best candidate for this task. A higher order, strongly typed Applicative System Description Language (ASDL) in which only well founded recursion can be described has been designed and implemented in order to demonstrate these principles in language design. The main contribution of this work is that, within a single, architecture-independent framework, a variety of design concerns (views) can be expressed and formally manipulated. Therefore, this thesis offers additional evidence for the fact that VLSI design may be regarded as a kind of applicative programming. This is important because we can expect that the productivity gains exhibited by applicative programming techniques can be transferred to the field of VLSI design. It is also expected that, since the formal methods used in applicative programming help to construct better programs, they will help us in building better circuits. But the greatest hope is that it will be possible to synthesize circuits from specifications thereby making possible the application of the modern engineering philosophy design correct first time . In this thesis, a number of design idioms based on the Bird and Meertens Formalism and their generalization to temporal attribute grammars are proposed. At the switch-level, a formal model of MOS transistor behavior is used to justify a synthesis procedure of CMOS networks from incomplete boolean specifications under certain constraints about the operating environment. The approach is illustrated with a number of example derivations.Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1992 .P489. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-09, Section: B, page: 4783. Advisers: G. A. Jullien; R. A. Frost. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1993