Hml: an Innovative Hardware Description Language and Its Translation to Vhdl

HML (Hardware ML) is an innovative hardware description language based on the functional programming language SML (Standard ML). HML is a high-order language that supports polymorphic functions. HML's advanced type system provides many constructs that are important to hardware descriptions but are lacking in the more mature, widely used hardware description languages such as VHDL and Verilog. Its succinct syntax provides a simple and concise notion for describing hardware. HML programs do not need to specify types and interfaces while describing hardware; they are automatically inferred using advanced type checking and type inference techniques. We have implemented an HML type checker and a translator to VHDL. The HML-to-VHDL translator automatically infers types and interfaces and generates a synthesizable subset of VHDL. This makes it possible for users to describe hardware in HML and still be able to make use of the rich availability of VHDL tools or to integrate with other VHDL packages or programs. Examples are given to illustrate the HML system. Table of