prs2net: automated netlist generation

The tool prs2net can be used to automatically generate a hierarchical spice netlist from an .act file. Parameters that control defaults and the output format are specified in a configuration file.

The overall way the tool works is as follows. First, it reads in the .act file. This file is then “expanded”, which means that all parameters are expanded out. This requires instances of cells in the top-level file. In general, it might make sense to have a file test.act that imports the necessary act file and instantiates the top-level cell of interest.

Expanded versions of cells have their expanded template attached to their names. In the following example, after expansion, there are two cells: foo (the unexpanded cell), and foo<> (the expanded cell).

    defproc foo(bool a, b)
    {
      prs {
        a => b-
      }
    }
    
    foo f;

If the instance foo f; were missing, then foo would not be expanded into foo<> (since it is not used).