BSV by Example - Computation Structures Group

2.2.2 Components of a BSV design
The following file types are generated when building a design with BSV. Not all file types will be
generated for all designs; some depend on the target simulation environment (Bluesim or Verilog).
Bluesim is a cycle simulator for BSV designs, included in your BSV release.
File Types in a BSV Design
File Type Description Bluesim Verilog
.bsv BSV source File
.bspec Bluespec
project File
Development Workstation
.bi, Intermediate files not directly viewed by
.bo,
.ba
the user
.v Generated Verilog file
√ √
√ √
√ √
The .h, and .cxx files are intermediate files not directly viewed by the user
√
.h C++ header files
√
.cxx Generated C++ source file
√
.o Compiled object files
√
.so Compiled shared object files
Note that the workstation and the compiler have various flags to direct the intermediate files into
various sub-directories to keep your project organized and uncluttered.
2.2.3 Overview of the BSV build process
Figure 1 illustrates the following steps in building a BSV design:
1. A designer writes a BSV program. It may optionally include Verilog, SysteMVerilog, VHDL,
and C components.
2. The BSV program is compiled into a Verilog or Bluesim specification. This step has two
distinct stages:
(a) pre-elaboration - parsing and type checking
(b) post-elaboration - code generation
3. The compilation output is either linked into a simulation environment or processed by a synthesis
tool.
Once you’ve generated the Verilog or Bluesim implementation, the workstation provides the following
tools to help analyze your design:
• Interface with an external waveform viewer with additional Bluespec-provided annotations,
including structure and type definitions
• Schedule Analysis viewer providing multiple perspectives of a module’s schedule
• Scheduling graphs displaying schedules, conflicts, and dependencies among rules and methods.
18
√