Function Interface Models for Hardware Compilation: Types, Signatures, Protocols

Understand

The problem of synthesis of gate-level descriptions of digital circuits from behavioural specifications written in higher-level programming languages (hardware compilation) has been studied for a long time yet a definitive solution has not been forthcoming.

• The argument of this essay is mainly methodological, bringing a perspective that is informed by recent developments in programming-language theory.
• We argue that one of the major obstacles in the way of hardware compilation becoming a useful and mature technology is the lack of a well defined function interface model, i.e.
• a canonical way in which functions communicate with arguments.