METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INCREMENTAL BEHAVIORAL VALIDATION OF DIGITAL DESIGN EXPRESSED IN HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

摘要

A method for an incremental behavioral validation of a digital design expressed in a hardware description language includes: receiving a design expressed in HDL code; providing a user interface permitting a designer to insert special comments into the received HDL code; using the special comments to identify testable parts of the design; creating a demonstration sequence for a testable part; performing a behavioral simulation of the testable part and applying the demonstration sequence at inputs of that part to drive the simulation; displaying the results of the simulation via the user interface by observing outputs of the simulated testable part, permitting the designer to determine whether the testable part implements the requirements of an informal specification; modifying the HDL design to correct designer identified failures; and selecting a next testable part and continuing until all testable parts correctly implement the designer's understanding of the informal specification.