Software makes sense of HDL code: News from HDL Works

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The latest version of HDL Companion is billed as the ideal environment for providing insight in IP, integrating IP with new code and keeping overview of complex HDL designs. HDL Companion automatically extracts numerous design details when a design directory is dragged into the global window of HDL Companion. The user then gets easy access to the code to quickly understand the design structure and details of the objects that are part of the design.

VHDL, Verilog and mixed language designs are supported.

Synthesis and simulation tool interfaces are built in, optimising the user's code/compile/debug cycle.

Next to many smaller improvements in GUI and performance, major new features include signal tracing through the design hierarchy, support for Verilog 2001 and version management with support for CVS and RCS.

In the past a designer had to use a simple text editor and Unix-like "grep" commands to find the way through many lines of HDL code or use a costly simulator licence to understand the design structure.

With HDL Companion a designer can drag and drop design files or directories into the global window and a complete design decomposition is performed in seconds, offering information regarding numerous aspects of the design.

This saves many, many hours to get an understanding of any existing HDL code.

Incomplete designs and designs containing code with syntax errors are accepted by HDL Companion, so design information can be gathered without being forced to debug that unknown erroneous code first.

HDL Companion 1.1 is now available.

Prices begin at US $1250.

HDL Companion can be downloaded for a free 10-day evaluation from the HDL Works website.

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