https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/ 2026-04-18T02:44:41+00:00 https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/ https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wiki:logo.png text/html 2024-08-07T11:11:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:attributes&rev=1723029088&do=diff Attributes ACT provides a mechanism to specify user-customizable attributes. These can be attached to both instances as well as production rules. Different ACT tools can use these attributes for a variety of purposes. The meaning of these attributes is not pre-specified in the ACT language; rather, the set of valid attributes is specified in the ACT configuration file, and these attributes can be queried by tools. Hence, the meaning of these attributes is determined by how they are used by tool… text/html 2023-04-09T23:13:33+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:connections&rev=1681082013&do=diff Connections When two nodes are connected to each other by wires, they effectively become one electrical node. This connection operation is part of the ACT language, and is denoted by the = sign. The = operation is also overloaded for meta-language variables to denote assignment. Multiple connections can be specified in a single statement by repeatedly using the text/html 2022-07-17T12:07:43+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:controlflow&rev=1658059663&do=diff Control flow Complex datapath elements are usually comprised of arrayed versions of simpler cells. Although arrays can be created directly using arrayed instantiations, ACT supports looping constructs which can be a convenient way to create arrayed structures. More complex structures such as trees can be easily created using recursive instantiations. text/html 2025-05-18T19:49:29+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:debugging&rev=1747597769&do=diff Debugging Support When ACT programs get long, it may be difficult to track down why a particular circuit is not being constructed properly. To help debug this, there are two basic debugging constructs provided. Assertions Sometimes it is useful to be able to check that a parameter (or an expression of parameters) has a reasonable value. To express this, ACT supports explicit assertions. We use Hoare's syntax for assertions, so the assertion that text/html 2025-04-21T17:39:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:expressions&rev=1745257185&do=diff Expressions Expression syntax in ACT is similar to expressions in the C language. * Integer expressions: operators that are supported include +, -, *, /, and % for integer arithmetic operations, and &, |, and ~ for bit-wise logical operations between integers. text/html 2023-04-09T22:06:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:impl&rev=1681078018&do=diff The Implementation relation When types are created using either deftype or defchan, they are defined as the implementation of a type. This is also possible for processes defined using defproc. Implementation The implementation relation is used to specify the precise implementation of a data or channel type. The most straightforward mechanism to specify a channel is to say that it is the implementation of a built-in data type. In the example in the text/html 2025-10-06T11:10:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:interface&rev=1759749006&do=diff Constructors for Types There are cases when it is useful to be able to build more complex types from existing types. ACT provides a mechanism to do so via interfaces and parameter types. Interfaces An interface is defined in the following way: interface linearchain (bool? in; bool! out); text/html 2025-09-04T11:09:59+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:introduction&rev=1756984199&do=diff ACT Introduction The Asynchronous Circuit Toolkit (ACT) is a suite of programs that can be used to design, verify, and test asynchronous circuits. The tools share a common input language (specified in a text .act file) which can be used to describe circuits at different levels of detail. In what follows, we assume that the reader is familiar with asynchronous design methodologies and terminology. text/html 2022-05-13T15:23:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:migrate&rev=1652455388&do=diff Migration guide If you have previously used ACT (versions from 2006 to 2018), there are a few minor changes that clean up the language and make the syntax more consistent. There are also some new features that you might find helpful that simplify describing circuits in ACT. text/html 2024-07-27T16:52:24+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:namespaces&rev=1722099144&do=diff Namespaces Namespaces are used as a mechanism to prevent naming conflicts when multiple people are working on a design. While ACT can be used without any namespaces (in which case everything is defined and created in the default namespace Global), most large designs will contain structure that can be used to keep the ACT files clean and modular. text/html 2024-08-07T11:12:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:start&rev=1723029169&do=diff The ACT Language This document describes the language used by the Asynchronous Circuit Toolkit (ACT). * Introduction: A brief introduction to the circuit description language, including some simple examples. * Types * Basic types: The care and feeding of basic type definitions and arrays. text/html 2025-09-04T11:12:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:syntacticreplication&rev=1756984376&do=diff Syntactic Replication Syntactic replication (sometimes called a syntactic loop construct) is a useful construct that can be used in a variety of places. The syntactic replication construct is written as follows: (sym id : range : body(id) ) The text/html 2025-04-21T14:32:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:types&rev=1745245954&do=diff Types and Variables Variables are the basic data objects in ACT. Instantiations specify which variables are created, and state what type they have. The type of an object completely specifies what the object is and how it can be used. Types come in two flavors: parameters and circuit elements. Parameters are variables whose types are text/html 2025-09-19T10:22:33+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://avlsi.csl.yale.edu/act/doku.php?id=language:types2&rev=1758277353&do=diff User-defined types User-defined type can be used to create complex circuit structures. A new user-defined type name is introduced by using defproc, defcell, defchan, or deftype statements. All user-defined types have the same basic structure: * a type signature, that provides information about the interface to the type and the ports that are externally visible; and