BOOM
Frequently Asked Questions

Make sure that you have declared the input/output as public. The BOOM system makes heavy use of the reflection interface. In order for the reflection interface to "discover" class variables, those variables must be declared as public.

All of the base library components in the BOOM system attempt to optimize their internal structure based on their outputs. They will remove unused subcomponents, or the entire component, depending on whether an output is null or unused (defined as unloaded). This allows for a much smaller design.

However, when simulating individual components, this causes a problem, since the component outputs may not necessarily be loaded. You must let the system know which outputs you plan to sample during simulation. To do this, you call the markAsUsed() on the output of the component. For example, if you planned to sample the output of a flip-flop, you should add:



myFlipFlop.o.markAsUsed();


This line must appear before you initialize the component.

XC4000-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

To change the part number for the XC4000 library, you should add:

((XC4KSpecific) GenObject.archSpecific).setXC4KPartNumber("NEWPARTNUMBER");


"NEWPARTNUMBER" is a string corresponding to the new part number that the library should be set to. It will be outputted in the netlist file exactly as given. The first 4 characters must correspond to the numerical part number. An example of a valid part number is "4005Epc84-3". The part number must be set before netlist generation.

The default XC4000 part number is 4005Epc84-3.

Tri-state buffers, IO blocks, and global buffers currently cannot be placed in the BOOM system. Support may be added in future versions if there is sufficient demand for specialized placement of tri-state buffers, IO blocks, and global buffers.

HSRA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

CMBs can be placed using a special placement routine. You should add:

myCMB.placeCMB("CMBADDRESS");


"CMBADDRESS" is a string corresponding to the CMB placement address. No validity checking is done on the passed address. The address is written verbatim into the placement file when the netlist is generated.