From f1ad5b58e8a749d558758288d03ce75bf6b8ff9c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Megan Wachs Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2021 16:47:58 -0700 Subject: Reorganize website docs (#1806) Updates to chisel3 documentation for website: * guard code examples with mdoc and fix errors encountered along the way * move some website content here vs splitting the content across two repos * Bring in the interval-types and loading memories content so that it will be visible from the website * remove all references to the wiki (deprecated) * Remove reference to Wiki from the README * fix tabbing and compile of chisel3-vs-chisel2 section * Appendix: faqs now guarded and compile * FAQs: move to resources section--- docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md | 84 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 84 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md (limited to 'docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md') diff --git a/docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md b/docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b9e5b8c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/src/explanations/combinational-circuits.md @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +--- +layout: docs +title: "Combinational Circuits" +section: "chisel3" +--- + +# Combinational Circuits + +A circuit is represented as a graph of nodes in Chisel. Each node is +a hardware operator that has zero or more inputs and that drives one +output. A literal, introduced above, is a degenerate kind of node +that has no inputs and drives a constant value on its output. One way +to create and wire together nodes is using textual expressions. For +example, we can express a simple combinational logic circuit +using the following expression: + +```scala +(a & b) | (~c & d) +``` + +The syntax should look familiar, with `&` and `|` +representing bitwise-AND and -OR respectively, and `~` +representing bitwise-NOT. The names `a` through `d` +represent named wires of some (unspecified) width. + +Any simple expression can be converted directly into a circuit tree, +with named wires at the leaves and operators forming the internal +nodes. The final circuit output of the expression is taken from the +operator at the root of the tree, in this example, the bitwise-OR. + +Simple expressions can build circuits in the shape of trees, but to +construct circuits in the shape of arbitrary directed acyclic graphs +(DAGs), we need to describe fan-out. In Chisel, we do this by naming +a wire that holds a subexpression that we can then reference multiple +times in subsequent expressions. We name a wire in Chisel by +declaring a variable. For example, consider the select expression, +which is used twice in the following multiplexer description: +```scala +val sel = a | b +val out = (sel & in1) | (~sel & in0) +``` + +The keyword `val` is part of Scala, and is used to name variables +that have values that won't change. It is used here to name the +Chisel wire, `sel`, holding the output of the first bitwise-OR +operator so that the output can be used multiple times in the second +expression. + +### Wires + +Chisel also supports wires as hardware nodes to which one can assign values or connect other nodes. + +```scala +val myNode = Wire(UInt(8.W)) +when (isReady) { + myNode := 255.U +} .otherwise { + myNode := 0.U +} +``` + +```scala +val myNode = Wire(UInt(8.W)) +when (input > 128.U) { + myNode := 255.U +} .elsewhen (input > 64.U) { + myNode := 1.U +} .otherwise { + myNode := 0.U +} +``` + +Note that the last connection to a Wire takes effect. For example, the following two Chisel circuits are equivalent: + +```scala +val myNode = Wire(UInt(8.W)) +myNode := 10.U +myNode := 0.U +``` + +```scala +val myNode = Wire(UInt(8.W)) +myNode := 0.U +``` -- cgit v1.2.3