Before this commit, each simulation engine (which is only pysim at
the moment, but also cxxsim soon) was a subclass of SimulatorCore,
and every simulation engine module would essentially duplicate
the complete structure of a simulator, with code partially shared.
This was a really bad idea: it was inconvenient to use, with
downstream code having to branch between e.g. PySettle and CxxSettle;
it had no well-defined external interface; it had multiple virtually
identical entry points; and it had no separation between simulation
algorithms and glue code.
This commit completely rearranges simulation code.
1. sim._base defines internal simulation interfaces. The clarity of
these internal interfaces is important because simulation
engines mix and match components to provide a consistent API
regardless of the chosen engine.
2. sim.core defines the external simulation interface: the commands
and the simulator facade. The facade provides a single entry
point and, when possible, validates or lowers user input.
It also imports built-in simulation engines by their symbolic
name, avoiding eager imports of pyvcd or ctypes.
3. sim.xxxsim (currently, only sim.pysim) defines the simulator
implementation: time and state management, process scheduling,
and waveform dumping.
The new simulator structure has none of the downsides of the old one.
See #324.
The redesign introduces no fundamental incompatibilities, but it does
involve minor breaking changes:
* The simulator commands were moved from hdl.ast to back.pysim
(instead of only being reexported from back.pysim).
* back.pysim.DeadlineError was removed.
Summary of changes:
* The new simulator compiles HDL to Python code and is >6x faster.
(The old one compiled HDL to lots of Python lambdas.)
* The new simulator is a straightforward, rigorous implementation
of the Synchronous Reactive Programming paradigm, instead of
a pile of ad-hoc code with no particular design driving it.
* The new simulator never raises DeadlineError, and there is no
limit on the amount of delta cycles.
* The new simulator robustly handles multiclock designs.
* The new simulator can be reset, such that the compiled design
can be reused, which can save significant runtime with large
designs.
* Generators can no longer be added as processes, since that would
break reset(); only generator functions may be. If necessary,
they may be added by wrapping them into a generator function;
a deprecated fallback does just that. This workaround will raise
an exception if the simulator is reset and restarted.
* The new simulator does not depend on Python extensions.
(The old one required bitarray, which did not provide wheels.)
Fixes#28.
Fixes#34.
Fixes#160.
Fixes#161.
Fixes#215.
Fixes#242.
Fixes#262.
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.
This example uses shift registers and counters instead of an explicit
FSM, which makes it very compact in terms of generated logic, and
more concise too.
The iCE40 programmers are also moved, since they're board-specific.
(It looks like iceprog isn't, but it only works with Lattice
evaluation kits.)
Fixes#80.
This markedly differs from oMigen system, which would request
consecutive resources. The difference is deliberate; most resources
are singular, so it does not matter for them, and for resources where
it does matter, which pins are requested should not depend on order
of execution of `platform.request`.
