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diff --git a/docs/src/wiki-deprecated/introduction.md b/docs/src/wiki-deprecated/introduction.md deleted file mode 100644 index 43fc9887..00000000 --- a/docs/src/wiki-deprecated/introduction.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,64 +0,0 @@ ---- -layout: docs -title: "Introduction" -section: "chisel3" ---- -This document is a tutorial introduction to _Chisel_ (Constructing -Hardware In a Scala Embedded Language). Chisel is a hardware -construction language embedded in the high-level programming language -Scala. At some point we will provide a proper reference manual, in -addition to more tutorial examples. In the meantime, this document -along with a lot of trial and error should set you on your way to -using Chisel. _Chisel is really only a set of special class -definitions, predefined objects, and usage conventions within Scala, -so when you write Chisel you are actually writing a Scala -program that constructs a hardware graph._ However, for the tutorial we don't presume that you -understand how to program in Scala. We will point out necessary Scala -features through the Chisel examples we give, and significant hardware -designs can be completed using only the material contained herein. -But as you gain experience and want to make your code simpler or more -reusable, you will find it important to leverage the underlying power -of the Scala language. We recommend you consult one of the excellent -Scala books to become more expert in Scala programming. - ->Through the tutorial, we format commentary on our design choices as in -this paragraph. You should be able to skip the commentary sections -and still fully understand how to use Chisel, but we hope you'll find -them interesting. - ->We were motivated to develop a new hardware language by years of -struggle with existing hardware description languages in our research -projects and hardware design courses. _Verilog_ and _VHDL_ were developed -as hardware _simulation_ languages, and only later did they become -a basis for hardware _synthesis_. Much of the semantics of these -languages are not appropriate for hardware synthesis and, in fact, -many constructs are simply not synthesizable. Other constructs are -non-intuitive in how they map to hardware implementations, or their -use can accidentally lead to highly inefficient hardware structures. -While it is possible to use a subset of these languages and still get -acceptable results, they nonetheless present a cluttered and confusing -specification model, particularly in an instructional setting. - ->However, our strongest motivation for developing a new hardware -language is our desire to change the way that electronic system design -takes place. We believe that it is important to not only teach -students how to design circuits, but also to teach them how to design -*circuit generators* ---programs that automatically generate -designs from a high-level set of design parameters and constraints. -Through circuit generators, we hope to leverage the hard work of -design experts and raise the level of design abstraction for everyone. -To express flexible and scalable circuit construction, circuit -generators must employ sophisticated programming techniques to make -decisions concerning how to best customize their output circuits -according to high-level parameter values and constraints. While -Verilog and VHDL include some primitive constructs for programmatic -circuit generation, they lack the powerful facilities present in -modern programming languages, such as object-oriented programming, -type inference, support for functional programming, and reflection. - ->Instead of building a new hardware design language from scratch, we -chose to embed hardware construction primitives within an existing -language. We picked Scala not only because it includes the -programming features we feel are important for building circuit -generators, but because it was specifically developed as a base for -domain-specific languages. |
