1800_WG - SystemVerilog Language Working Group

Dennis Brophy

This standard provides the definition of the language syntax and semantics for the IEEE 1800(tm)-2017 Standard for SystemVerilog--Unified Hardware Design, Specification, and Verification Language, which is a unified hardware design, specification, and verification language. The standard includes support for behavioral, register transfer level (RTL), and gate-level hardware descriptions; testbench, coverage, assertion, object-oriented, and constrained random constructs; and also provides application programming interfaces (APIs) to foreign programming languages.

Supersedes 1364-1995. The Verilog(R) Hardware Description Language (HDL) is defined in this standard. Verilog HDL is a formal notation intended for use in all phases of the creation of electronic systems. Because it is both machine readable and human readable,it supports the development,verification, synthesis,and testing of hardware designs; the communication of hardware design data; and the maintenance,modification,and procurement of hardware. The primary audiences for this standard are the implementors of tools supporting the language and advanced users of the language.

This standard represents a merger of two previous standards: IEEE 1364-2005 Verilog hardware description language (HDL) and IEEE 1800-2005 SystemVerilog unified hardware design, specification and verification language. The 2005 SystemVerilog standard defines extensions to the 2005 Verilog standard. These two standards were designed to be used as one language. Merging the base Verilog language and the SystemVerilog extensions into a single standard enables users to have all information regarding syntax and semantics in a single document.

This standard provides a set of extensions to the IEEE 1364? Verilog? hardware description language (HDL) to aid in the creation and verification of abstract architectural level models. It also includes design specification methods, embedded assertions language, testbench language including coverage and an assertions application programming interface (API), and a direct programming interface (DPI). This standard enables a productivity boost in design and validation and covers design, simulation, validation, and formal assertion-based verification flows.

The definition of the language syntax and semantics for SystemVerilog, which is a unified hardware design, specification, and verification language, is provided. This standard includes support for modeling hardware at the behavioral, register transfer level (RTL), and gate-level abstraction levels, and for writing test benches using coverage, assertions, object-oriented programming, and constrained random verification. The standard also provides application programming interfaces (APIs) to foreign programming languages. (Thanks to our sponsor, the PDF of this standard is provided to the public no charge. Visit GETIEEE program located at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/browse/standards/get-program/page for details.)