silicon compiler A silicon compiler is a software system that takes a user's specifications and automatically generates an integrated circuit (IC). The process is sometimes referred to as hardware compilation.
Silicon compilation takes place in three major steps ...
, which produces
digital circuit In theoretical computer science, a circuit is a model of computation in which input values proceed through a sequence of gates, each of which computes a function. Circuits of this kind provide a generalization of Boolean circuits and a mathematical ...
s that will execute
compiled language
A compiled language is a programming language whose implementations are typically compilers (translators that generate machine code from source code), and not interpreters (step-by-step executors of source code, where no pre-runtime translation t ...
FPGAs
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware de ...
processor
Processor may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Processor (computing)
**Central processing unit (CPU), the hardware within a computer that executes a program
*** Microprocessor, a central processing unit contained on a single integrated circuit (I ...
for reconfigurable computing, or even ASICs for dedicated software applications. Its
compiled programming language
A compiled language is a programming language whose implementations are typically compilers (translators that generate machine code from source code), and not interpreters (step-by-step executors of source code, where no pre-runtime translation t ...
is a subset of the
C programming language
''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as ...
.
FpgaC's goal is to be an efficient
High Level Language
In computer science, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong Abstraction (computer science), abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ...
The historical roots of FpgaC are in the Transmogrifier C 3.1 (TMCC) HDL, a 1996
BSD
The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berk ...
licensed
Open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
offering from University of Toronto. TMCC is one of the first FPGA C compilers, with work starting in 1994 and presented at IEEE's FCCM95. This predated the evolution from the Handel language to
Handel-C
Handel-C is a high-level programming language which targets low-level hardware, most commonly used in the programming of FPGAs. It is a rich subset of C, with non-standard extensions to control hardware instantiation with an emphasis on parallelis ...
work done shortly afterward at Oxford University Computing Laboratory.
TMCC was renamed FpgaC for the initial SourceForge project release, with syntax modifications to start the evolution to ANSI C. Later development has removed all explicit HDL syntax from the language, and increased the subset of C supported. By capitalizing on ANSI C C99 extensions, the same functionality is now available by
inference
Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word '' infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deduction and induction, a distinction that in ...
rather than non-standard language extensions. This shift away from non-standard HDL extensions was influenced in part by Streams-C from Los Alamos National Laboratory (now available commercially as
Impulse C
Impulse C is a subset of the C programming language combined with a C-compatible function library supporting parallel programming, in particular for programming of applications targeting FPGA devices. It is developed by Impulse Accelerated Tech ...
).
In the years that have followed, compiling ANSI C for execution as FPGA circuits has become a mainstream technology. Commercial FPGA C compilers are available from multiple vendors, and ANSI C based System Level Tools have gone mainstream for system description and simulation languages. FPGA based Reconfigurable Computing offerings from industry leaders like Altera, Silicon Graphics, Seymour Cray's
SRC Computers
Seymour Roger Cray (September 28, 1925 – October 5, 1996 ) was an American
Xilinx have capitalized on two decades of government and university reconfigurable computing research.