A graphical hardware design language
Paul J. Drongowski, Jwahar R. Bammi, Raju Ramaswamy, Sundaravarathan R. Iyengar, T.-H. Wang · Design Automation Conference · 1988
Gdl is a graphical hardware design language that separates design decisions into three interrelated, but distinct domains: behavioral, structural and physical. Specific language features are provided to represent a design in each of these domains. This report describes the process model for Gdl. Functional behavior is separated into distinct activities called “processes” (autonomous control centers.) The computations performed by a process are specified in its behavior graph. Processes may communicate with each other through ports where the channel between two ports may be an abstract logical link or may be a physical bus. Provisions are made for synchronization. The paper concludes with an evaluation of Gdl and suggestions for future research.