HARP: FORTRAN to silicon [compilation system]

An advanced silicon compilation system called HARP is described that creates a register-transfer language (RTL) description from a FORTRAN program. HARP contains three main processing parts: a data path synthesizer; a sequence controller synthesizer; and an RTL translator. The first synthesizer generates data paths by solving three subproblems: allocation of function units, storage elements, and interconnection units. The second synthesizer generates a microprogrammed controller and microinstructions. Since the RTL translator transforms the synthesized LSI structures into RTL descriptions which are input for a VLSI synthesizer, LSI mask patterns can be directly generated. HARP produces acceptable LSI ICs which exactly execute the input FORTRAN program. HARP's target is to construct a top-down LSI design methodology starting with fewer hardware images. >