Re: [myhdl-list] MyHDL : The Case for a Better HDL
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From: Werner T. <we...@th...> - 2012-09-17 00:43:12
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Hi all ..snip.. >>> Yes, I have been invited by Max Maxfield to become a blogger >>> on that site. I was looking for a good forum to tell >>> "the MyHDL story" for some time, and this looks ideal. It >>> should give us visibility and spur some interesting >>> discussions :-) >>> >>> I'll try to blog every 2 weeks or so. >>> >> >> Has anyone else read the blog on APP? Anyone read the comments? Yes, thumbs up and continue ..snip.. > After using myhdl for some time now i really would not want to switch back > to vhdl or systemC or systemVerilog. > I think the reason is that when i write in myhdl i have to remember way > less syntax and function calls with parameters (like with which types can > i use with to_unsigned(..) function,is a bitwidth needed?, or how to use > the shift_left(..) function, which types does the function needs,etc..) > So i actually can write hardware code without visiting "google" and or > different manuals every once and a while. I believe, that the feeling of 'not wanting to go back' has a lot to do with the investment which goes with whatever tool you choose, investments oftentimes so big, that you're locked in. Which is exactly the strategy of the guys selling tools, luring people into their nets, entangle them such, that there is no way out anymore. Happened in CAD software, it's also happening in the HDL sector, with all the IDE's and basic stuff being free, but if you want to access certain features then you'll bleed, which all the more make those being entangled advocates of whatever they're hooked into. With OpenSource projects like MyHDL there is a way out of this dependency mess, MyHDL is not trivial, the investment is also high, but gaining that freedom running your business like you want to run it, instead of some other paid guys telling you how, is the beauty of OpenSource. On the other hand does OpenSource suffer from projects becoming fractured such, that their is not a group working on it, but a single individual. Rolling your own, by branching off or redoing things from scratch sometimes wastes a lot of energy. All in all I really like MyHDL because it's dependable, it evolves, it has a lot of potential and it let's you do stuff, which might not be possible with basic tools at the level of manpower and money at least I have at my disposition, while the quality and expressiveness of the code is at a level where maintainability for longer time frames is given. Just wanted to say thank you to all who invested time into MyHDL Werner |