Although constructor methods can improve clarity, there are many
contexts in which it is useful to use range() as a shape: notably
Layout, but also Const and AnyConst/AnyValue. Instead of duplicating
these constructor methods everywhere (which is not even easily
possible for Layout), use casting to Shape, introduced in 6aabdc0a.
Fixes#225.
Shapes have long been a part of nMigen, but represented using tuples.
This commit adds a Shape class (using namedtuple for backwards
compatibility), and accepts anything castable to Shape (including
enums, ranges, etc) anywhere a tuple was accepted previously.
In addition, `signed(n)` and `unsigned(n)` are added as aliases for
`Shape(n, signed=True)` and `Shape(n, signed=False)`, transforming
code such as `Signal((8, True))` to `Signal(signed(8))`.
These aliases are also included in prelude.
Preparation for #225.
This can cause confusion:
* If the erroneous object is None, it is printed as 'None', which
appears as a string (and could be the result of converting None
to a string.)
* If the erroneous object is a string, it is printed as ''<val>'',
which is a rather strange combination of quotes.
This change achieves two related goals.
First, default_rst is no longer assumed to be synchronous to
default_clk, which is the safer option, since it can be connected to
e.g. buttons on some evaluation boards.
Second, since the power-on / configuration reset is inherently
asynchronous to any user clock, the default create_missing_domain()
behavior is to use a reset synchronizer with `0` as input. Since,
like all reset synchronizers, it uses Signal(reset=1) for its
synchronization stages, after power-on reset it keeps its subordinate
clock domain in reset, and releases it after fabric flops start
toggling.
The latter change is helpful to architectures that lack an end-of-
configuration signal, i.e. most of them. ECP5 was already using
a similar scheme (and is not changed here). Xilinx devices with EOS
use EOS to drive a BUFGMUX, which is more efficient than using
a global reset when the design does not need one; Xilinx devices
without EOS use the new scheme. iCE40 requires a post-configuration
timer because of BRAM silicon bug, and was changed to add a reset
synchronizer if user clock is provided.
The write port priority in Yosys is derived directly from the order
in which the ports are declared in the Verilog frontend. It is being
removed for several reasons:
1. It is not clear if it works correctly for all cases (FFRAM,
LUTRAM, BRAM).
2. Although it is roundtripped via Verilog with correct simulation
semantics, the resulting code has a high chance of being
interpreted incorrectly by Xilinx tools.
3. It cannot be roundtripped via FIRRTL, which is an alternative
backend that is an interesting future option. (FIRRTL leaves
write collision completely undefined.)
3. It is a niche feature that, if it is needed, can be completely
replaced using an explicit comparator, priority encoder, and
write enable gating circuit. (This is what Xilinx recommends
for handling this case.)
In the future we should extend nMigen's formal verification to assert
that a write collision does not happen.
Although useful for debugging, most external tools often complain
about such attributes (with notable exception of Vivado). As such,
it is better to emit Verilog with these attributes into a separate
file such as `design.debug.v` and only emit the attributes that were
explicitly placed by the user to `design.v`.
This still leaves the (*init*) attribute. See #220 for details.
Since we use hertz elsewhere, this provides for easy conversions.
Also, cast the delay to string before applying it in xilinx_7series,
to avoid stripping the fractional digits.
Closes#234.
