In hardware - software codesign paradigm often a performance estimation of the system is needed for hardware - software partitioning. The tremendous growth of application specific embedded systems necessitate high level system design tools for rapid prototyping. This work involves design of a language Sim-nML which will be the base for a high level system design environment. The language is simple, elegant and powerful enough to express the behavior of the processor at instruction level. This language is used as the base for a whole set of tools such as assembler, disassembler and simulator generator. As a part of this work, we implemented an instruction set simulator generator which takes Sim-nML description of the processor as input and produces C++ code for performance simulator. We envisage the use of the generated simulator for cycle based analysis of the processor and for performance estimation of the system. This work is primarily an extension of nML[2] language.

Reflection and automated introspection of a design in system level design frameworks are seen as necessities for the CAD tools to manipulate the designs within the tools. These features are also useful for debuggers, class and object browsers, design analyzers, composition validation, type checking, compatibility checking, etc. However, the central question is whether such features should be integrated into the language, or if we should build frameworks which feature these capabilities in a meta-layer, leaving the system-level language intact. In our recent interactions with designers, we have found differing opinions. Especially in the context of SystemC, the temptation to integrate reflective APIs into the language is great, because C++ is expressive, and already has type introspective packages available. In this paper, we analyze this issue and show that (i) it is a better EDA system architecture to implement reflection /introspection at a meta-layer in a design framework (ii) there are relatively unexplored territories of design automation, such as behavioral typing of component interfaces, corresponding type-theory, and their implication in automating component composition, interface synthesis, and validation, which can be better incorporated if the introspection is implemented at a meta-layer.

The paper presents an analysis of technology trends based on the data available from the recently released National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (NTRS 1997). This analysis shows that increasing clock rates and system diameter in clock periods will make efficient management of communication and coordination increasingly critical. Due to the decreasing cost of logic versus interconnect and the electrical necessity of signal regeneration to counter worsening effect of interconnect geometries, use of configurable logic blocks even in custom data-paths presents a unique opportunity to customize bindings, mechanisms, and policies which comprise the interaction of processing, memory, I/O and communication resources. This programming flexibility, or "customizability", can provide the key to achieving robust high performance.

Reflection and automated introspection of a design in system level design frameworks are seen as necessities for the CAD tools to manipulate the designs within the tools. These features are also useful for debuggers, class and object browsers, design analyzers, composition validation, type checking, compatibility checking, etc. However, the central question is whether such features should be integrated into the language, or if we should build frameworks which feature these capabilities in a meta-layer, leaving the system-level language intact. In our recent interactions with designers, we have found differing opinions. Especially in the context of SystemC, the temptation to integrate reflective APIs into the language is great, because C++ is expressive, and already has type introspective packages available. In this paper, we analyze this issue and show that (i) it is a better EDA system architecture to implement reflection /introspection at a meta-layer in a design framework (ii) there are relatively unexplored territories of design automation, such as behavioral typing of component interfaces, corresponding type-theory, and their implication in automating component composition, interface synthesis, and validation, which can be better incorporated if the introspection is implemented at a meta-layer.