Graphical representation of a hardware description language

A set of tools are presented which are aimed at producing graphical representations of a number of aspects of the behaviour and structure of hardware designs expressed in the hardware description language STRICT. Three main types of diagrams are described. First, a structural diagram in which the implementation of a block in terms of sub-blocks and their interconnection is shown; secondly, a control flow diagram is presented as a Petri net giving the control behaviour; and finally a resource usage diagram illustrates the results of exercising a particular block in terms of the silicon area occupied and the time required to compute the result. The information presented in graphical form is that described by the source language, but the graphics provide a more easily comprehensible medium.