. This paper presents in some detail the systematic derivation of a static bit-level parallel algorithm to implement multiplication of integers, that is to say one which might be implemented as an electronic circuit. The circuit is well known, but the derivation shows that its design can be seen as the consequence of decisions made (and explained) in terms of the abstract algorithm. The systematic derivation serves both as an explanation of the circuit, and as a demonstration that it is correct `by construction'. We believe that the technique is applicable to a wide range of similar algorithms. 1 Introduction We advocate a style of `design by calculation' for the very fine-grained parallel algorithms that are implemented as regular arrays of electronic circuits. The design of such circuits is particularly difficult because the implementation medium imposes severe constraints on what is possible and what is reasonably efficient. In consequence the details of the final implementation ha...

A language of relations and combining forms is presented in which to describe both the behaviour of circuits and the specifications which they must meet. We illustrate a design method that starts by selecting representations for the values on which a circuit operates, and derive the circuit from these representations by a process of refinement entirely within the language. Formal methods have always been used in circuit design. It would be unthinkable to attempt to design combinational circuits without using Boolean algebra. This means that circuit designers, unlike programmers, already use mathematical tools as a matter of course. It also means that we have a good basis on which to build higher level formal design methods. Encouraged by these observations, we have been investigating the application of formal program development techniques to circuit design. We view circuit design as the transformation of a program describing the required behaviour into an equivalent program that is s...