How to use DPI systemVerilog to detect a substring match? - system-verilog

How do I use SystemVerilog DPI to check if some string contains another string? For example, strstr() in C can detect "str" is contained within "string".

Not sure what you mean by DPI systemverilog? If you want to use functions similar to C functions, then I would highly suggest the svlib library by Verilab. It provides string manipulation methods using the Str class
http://www.verilab.com/resources/svlib/

UVM has regexp string methods built in. It's widely supported and optimized.
You want "uvm_re_match()" to do exactly what you want.
https://dvteclipse.com/uvm-1.2_Public_API/summary-function-uvm_pkg.html#function_uvm_re_match

Related

Documentation comment for loop variable in Xcode

I know that we can use
/// index variable
var i = 0
as a documentation comment for a single variable.
How can we do the same for a loop variable?
The following does not work:
var array = [0]
/// index variable
for i in array.indices {
// ...
}
or
var array = [0]
for /** index variable */ i in array.indices {
// ...
}
Background:
The reason why I don’t use "good" variable names is that I’m implementing a numerical algorithm which is derived using mathematical notation. It has in this case only single letter variable names. In order to better see the connection between the derivation and the implementation I use the same variable names.
Now I want to comment on the variables in code.
The use of /// is primarily intended for use of documenting the API of of a class, struct, etc. in Swift.
So if used before a class, func, a var/let in a class/struct, etc. you are attaching documentation to that code aspect that Xcode understands how to show inline. It doesn’t know how to pickup that information for things inside of function since at this time that is not the intention of /// (it may work for simple var/let but not likely fully on purpose).
Instead use a simple // code comment for the benefit of any those working in the code however avoid over documenting the code since good code is likely fairly self explaining to anyone versed in the language and adding unneeded documentations can get in the way of just reading the code.
This is a good reference for code documentation in Swift at this time Swift Documentation
I woud strongly push back on something like this if I saw it in a PR. i is a massively well adopted "term of art" for loop indices. Generally, if your variable declaration name needs to be commented, you need a better variable name. There are some exceptions, such as when it stores data with complicated uses/invariants that can't be captured in a better way in a type system.
I think commenting is one area that beginners get wrong, mainly from being misled by teachers or by not yet fully understanding the purpose of comments. Comments don't exist to create an english based, psuedo-programming language in which your entire app will be duplicated. Understanding the programming language is a minimal expectation out of contributors to a project. Absolutely no comments should be explaining programming language features. E.g. var x: Int = 0 // declares a new mutable variable called x, to the Int value 0, with the exception of tutorials for learning Swift.
Commenting in this manner might seem like it's helpful, because you could argue it explains things for beginners. That may be the case, but it's suffocating for all other readers. Imagine if novel had to define all the English words they used.
Instead, the goal of documentation to explain the purpose and the use of things. To answer such questions as:
Why did you implement something this way, and not another way?
What purpose does this method serve?
When will this method of my delegate be called?
Case Study: Equatable
For a good example, take a look at the documentation of Equatable
Some things to notice:
It's written for an audience of Swift developers. It uses many things, which it does not explain such as, arrays, strings, constants, variable declaration, assignment, if statements, method calls (such as Array.contains(_:)), string interpolation, the print function.
It explains the general purpose of this protocol.
It explains how to use this protocol
It explains how you can adopt this protocol for your own use
It documents contractual requirements that cannot be enforced by the type system.
Since equality between instances of Equatable types is an equivalence relation, any of your custom types that conform to Equatable must satisfy three conditions, for any values a, b, and c:
a == a is always true (Reflexivity)
a == b implies b == a (Symmetry)
a == b and b == c implies a == c (Transitivity)
It explains possible misconceptions about the protocol ("Equality is Separate From Identity")

Why to use := in Scala? [duplicate]

What is the difference between = and := in Scala?
I have googled extensively for "scala colon-equals", but was unable to find anything definitive.
= in scala is the actual assignment operator -- it does a handful of specific things that for the most part you don't have control over, such as
Giving a val or var a value when it's created
Changing the value of a var
Changing the value of a field on a class
Making a type alias
Probably others
:= is not a built-in operator -- anyone can overload it and define it to mean whatever they like. The reason people like to use := is because it looks very assignmenty and is used as an assignment operator in other languages.
So, if you're trying to find out what := means in the particular library you're using... my advice is look through the Scaladocs (if they exist) for a method named :=.
from Martin Odersky:
Initially we had colon-equals for assignment—just as in Pascal, Modula, and Ada—and a single equals sign for equality. A lot of programming theorists would argue that that's the right way to do it. Assignment is not equality, and you should therefore use a different symbol for assignment. But then I tried it out with some people coming from Java. The reaction I got was, "Well, this looks like an interesting language. But why do you write colon-equals? What is it?" And I explained that its like that in Pascal. They said, "Now I understand, but I don't understand why you insist on doing that." Then I realized this is not something we wanted to insist on. We didn't want to say, "We have a better language because we write colon-equals instead of equals for assignment." It's a totally minor point, and people can get used to either approach. So we decided to not fight convention in these minor things, when there were other places where we did want to make a difference.
from The Goals of Scala's Design
= performs assignment. := is not defined in the standard library or the language specification. It's a name that is free for other libraries or your code to use, if you wish.
Scala allows for operator overloading, where you can define the behaviour of an operator just like you could write a method.
As in other languages, = is an assignment operator.
The is no standard operator I'm aware of called :=, but could define one with this name. If you see an operator like this, you should check up the documentation of whatever you're looking at, or search for where that operator is defined.
There is a lot you can do with Scala operators. You can essentially make an operator out of virtually any characters you like.

Should I ever prefer operators overloading over functions/methods?

I feel like using operators overloading adds unnecessary complexity and ambiguity to the code.
Does it have its benefits in real-world cases where it's worth to use custom operators or overload existing operators instead of using functions or object methods?
Is it used on a regular basis or more just a funny exotic stuff to add a language a bit more hipness?
The main reason for overloading is comfort of using custom class with mathematic or logic background
like:
vectors
matrices
complex numbers
phasors,tensors,quaternions,...
finite fields
big-numbers (arbnum,biginteger,bigdecimal...)
custom precision floating and fixed formats
predicates,boolean,fuzy and probabilistic
strings,lists,ques
and much much more
If coded right you can write math equations directly and not bother to convert to set of function calls. The reading and understanding math code is much simpler and straightforward with operators.
Sometimes even non strictly math classes are used this way for example images or signals. In DIP/CV there are usually math/physics equations applied on those and overloaded operators make that more simple.
For the non-math classes
are operators usually useless/meaningless (as you feel) except for special operator= which is crucial for any class/struct with dynamic allocation members. Without it things like std:vector<> will not work properly.
Another example are comparison operators which are sometimes implemented for non math classes to make sorting easier.
from wiki
operator overloading—less commonly known as operator ad hoc polymorphism—is a specific case of polymorphism, where different operators have different implementations depending on their arguments
Swift has over 40 operators, all of them are overloaded and we are using them on regular bases. Do you prefer let sum = value.plus(anotherValue) over let sum = value + anotherValue ?? I am sure, you don't! If the value is custom type conforming to protocol Equatable, == operator must be overloaded and we do it regularly.
Is it a good idea to use custom defined operators (like ±, <*> etc ...)? In that area I am not sure. I am not big fan of this ...
Is it a good idea to overload + operator for something else than sum ? No, definitely not!

Fortran numeric class

In fortran I can use Class (*) in a subroutine and use
Select Type (ir)
Type Is (Integer (Int8))
Type Is (Integer (Int16))
End Select
Does there exist any way to pass a numeric value rather than using Class (*), by using Class (Integer) for example or something similar.
Intrinsic types are not extended types, they have no common ancestor, nothing like that exist. You can use the unlimited polymorphism (class(*)) or you must indicate exact type and kind (real(dp)). You can also write type(real) in Fortran 2008, but that does not change anything, it is just a different syntax for the same.
Have a look at some common techniques for generic programming with different kinds like, for example, How to make some generic programming in fortran 90/95 working with intrinsic types , STL analogue in Fortran and others. You normally make a separate procedure for each kind and paste the code body from an include file.

Cool class and method names wrapped in ``: class `This is a cool class` {}?

I just found some scala code which has a strange class name:
class `This is a cool class` {}
and method name:
def `cool method` = {}
We can use a sentence for a class or method name!
It's very cool and useful for unit-testing:
class UserTest {
def `user can be saved to db` {
// testing
}
}
But why we can do this? How to understand it?
This feature exists for the sake of interoperability. If Scala has a reserved word (with, for example), then you can still refer to code from other languages which use it as a method or variable or whatever, by using backticks.
Since there was no reason to forbid nearly arbitrary strings, you can use nearly arbitrary strings.
As #Rex Kerr answered, this feature is for interoperablility. For example,
To call a java method,
Thread.yield()
you need to write
Thread.`yield`()
since yield is a keyword in scala.
The Scala Language Specification:
There are three ways to form an identifier. First, an identifier can
start with a letter which can be followed by an arbitrary sequence of
letters and digits. This may be followed by underscore ‘_’ characters
and another string composed of either letters and digits or of
operator characters. Second, an identifier can start with an operator
character followed by an arbitrary sequence of operator characters.
The preceding two forms are called plain identifiers. Finally, an
identifier may also be formed by an arbitrary string between
back-quotes (host systems may impose some restrictions on which
strings are legal for identifiers). The identifier then is composed of
all characters excluding the backquotes themselves.
Strings wrapped in ` are valid identifiers in Scala, not only to class names and methods but to functions and variables, too.
To me it is just that the parser and the compiler were built in a way that enables that, so the Scala team implemented it.
I think that it can be cool for a coder to be able to give real names to functions instead of getThisIncredibleItem or get_this_other_item.
Thanks for your questions which learnt me something new in Scala!