Summary: Silicon C:
A Hardware Backend for SUIF
C. Scott Ananian
May, 1998
High­level languages have much to offer the hard­
ware designer. Freed of the tyranny of gates, it is
possible to approach circuit function in terms of the
algorithm or protocol it implements. Design rule
checking and gate­level optimizations are becoming
impossible for large designs without computer assis­
tance anyway, the argument goes, so why not del­
egate all low­level design and synthesis to the ma­
chine, and free the humans to work on the high­level
tasks the machine is incapable of?
In addition, a successful hardware compiler for
a high­level language allows for more flexible
hardware­software co­design and simulation. Ide­
ally, a single high­level language could be used for
both the application software and hardware. The
model can be compiled completely in software for

Source: Ananian, C. Scott - One Laptop Per Child

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences