ALF meeting Oct. 9 2001 at NEC EL Santa Clara Attendees: Peter Christensen Magma Jake Karrfalt ASC Srinivas Madaboosi Fujitsu Bijan Panahi NEC Kim Nguyen Tera System Joe Daniels Accellera Nancy Nettleton Sun Microsystems (by phone) Tim Baldwin Monterey (by phone) Alex Zamfirescu ASC Tak Young Monterey Vinai Srinivas Sequence (afternoon) Wolfgang Roethig NEC HOUSEKEEPING The last meeting minutes were approved without changes. IEEE STATUS Wolfgang reported on the IEEE status, including the now correct project numbering (P1603). INDUSTRY SUPPORT Magma is interested in using ALF for constraints and rule base designs. ASC targeted ALF for their low-power optimization tools. Fujitsu is still trying to figure out what they are going to do. Tera is developping ALF mapping for their TeraGate library. NEC is developing ALF analysis for a variety of tools. Sun is still reviewing library support. Monterey is open to using ALF to meet their customer needs. TEST SUITES - I ASC now reports the suites are partially developed. Alex will further define this effort later in the agenda. OPEN LETTER The group helped Wolfgang edit the open letter seeking more supporters of the ALF standard and effort. This effort included a discussion on how standards can compete and/or complement each other, and further defined the differences in the approaches and uses of ALF versus OLA. Consider adding a picture showing standards relationships and a list of all the advantages of ALF: object-oriented, development time and cost, and feature support. Advantage of object-oriented approach: reusability, testability, and inheritance, resulting in a more compact, structured library description. TEST SUITES – II Alex talked about the ALF development at ASC: tools used, available options, and using test suites. ASC provides a simple README file to walk through running their ALF compiler; they check their results against XML output. Alex demonstrated some semantic and parser error conditions and tracing and described how ASC is willing to share their efforts with other members of the WG. The group also discussed how to develop a golden version of ASC’s ALF parser, how to enhance it with any extensions, and how to rework the current ALF standard to have a singular rule for each test case in ASC’s test suites. ASC has some questions about the uniqueness of keywords, objects, rules, levels, etc. The group also discussed how to promote ALF so it is more accepted similar to (proprietary) Cadence and Synopsis standards. Wolfgang will post his updated tutorial and reinforce any workgroup or IEEE milestones (ballot for IEEE by May, 2002). DOCUMENT ASSIGNMENTS Joe will incorporate cross-reference material (from ALF 2.0) into the IEEE draft by the next meeting (in Nov) and add line numbers. Ch 5, Principles – Alex Ch 6, Lexical rules – Kim, Alex Ch 7, Auxiliary – Alex Ch 8, Generic, etc. – Kim, Alex Ch 9, Library, etc. – Peter (9.1 – 9.5), Tim B. (9.6 - 9.9), Jake (9.10) Ch 10, Digital – Tak, Tim E., Jake Ch 11, Analog General – Jake (11.1 – 11.7), Vinay (11.8 – 11.11) Timing – Vinay (11.8-11.11), Jay Abraham Electrical – Peter (11.12 – 11.14), Jay Abraham Physical – Peter, Tim B. REVIEW OF WORK DOC 2.0 Metal Density The workgroup supports the proposed changes from Wolfgang’s document. 3.0 Current (Types) Need to show a difference between source and measurement: “There are three types of mutually exclusive CURRENT specifications.” Amend “I2 = … with only two …” Approved as amended above (and amend title to Current Types). 4.0 Noise Approved in concept. 5.0 Non-scan cell This proposal is simply to remove an old feature. 6.0 VIOLATION in the context of LIMIT The workgroup supports the proposed changes from Wolfgang’s document. 7.0 New value for MEASUREMENT annotation The workgroup supports the proposed changes from Wolfgang’s document. 8.0 MONITOR statement for VECTOR Alex is concerned this proposal does not accurately cover what needs to be done. Skipped 9.0 Skipped 10.0 Skipped 11.0 Note Alex’s concerns about making the grammar/syntax normative. 12.0 Amended semantics of LIMIT The workgroup supports the proposed changes from Wolfgang’s document, as amended with comments re: MIN and MAX. 13.0 Semantics of SUPPLYTYPE and SUPPLY_CLASS for multi-rail support Alex will supply a requirements spec to further define this topic. ACTION ITEM STATUS A.I. send email with IEEE membership # to Wolfgang - all Status: IN PROGRESS A.I. post pertinent PAR information on web - Wolfgang> A.I. publish development schedule - ASC Status: IN PROGRESS A.I. set up ftp site for testcase submission, to be negotiated between Accellera and ASC - Wolfgang Status: OPEN Wolfgang talked with Dennis Brophy who unfortuneatelly could not attend the meeting due to personal reasons. A.I. Get in touch with Design and Test Magazine Editors - Alex Status: In PROGRESS Alex did get in touch with Design and Test Magazine Editors and will develop an article for that magazine. A.I. comment on chapter 9 and 10 wrt compatibility with Philips parser - Tim Status: DONE Tim Ehrler has sent email to Wolfgang: no parser issues from Philips. A.I. send email to reflector answering Wolfgang's follow-up questions - Tim Ehrler Status: DONE A.I. comment on chapter 9 and 10 wrt compatibility with Sequence parser - Sergei Status: OPEN A.I. Get hold of VHDL AMS spec and summarize the proposed semantics for ALF group - Alex Status: IN PROGRESS Alex said VHDL-AMS is meeting this week and he will see what language-related structures and/or terminology we can co-opt from that effort. A.I. give opinion on chapter 8 in work doc - Sergei Sokolov Status: OPEN A.I. give opinion on chapter 7 through 11 in work doc - all CONTINUOUS A.I. A.I. edit work doc according to review results - Wolfgang CONTINUOUS A.I. NEW ACTION ITEMS A.I. Draft revised version of open letter - Wolfgang A.I. Send parser issue report from ASC to reflector - Alex A.I. schedule next meeting in week of Nov.12, try to minimize overlap with F2B conference, Accellera board meeting and OLA. Tentative date: Monday Nov. 12 - Wolfgang A.I. Prepare IEEE 1603 draft 2 by incorporating referenced chapters from ALF 2.0 - Joe